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BASIS OF PRESENTATION
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2011
BASIS OF PRESENTATION  
BASIS OF PRESENTATION

1.    BASIS OF PRESENTATION

        The accompanying unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements as of June 30, 2011 and for the three- and six-month periods ended June 30, 2011 and 2010 include the accounts of Citigroup Inc. (Citigroup) and its subsidiaries (collectively, the Company). In the opinion of management, all adjustments, consisting of normal recurring adjustments, necessary for a fair presentation have been reflected. The accompanying unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements should be read in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements and related notes included in Citigroup's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2010 (2010 Annual Report on Form 10-K) and Citigroup's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2011.

        Certain financial information that is normally included in annual financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, but is not required for interim reporting purposes, has been condensed or omitted.

        Management must make estimates and assumptions that affect the Consolidated Financial Statements and the related footnote disclosures. While management makes its best judgment, actual results could differ from those estimates. Current market conditions increase the risk and complexity of the judgments in these estimates.

        Certain reclassifications have been made to the prior-period's financial statements and notes to conform to the current period's presentation.

        As noted above, the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements are unaudited.

Significant Accounting Policies

        The Company's accounting policies are fundamental to understanding management's discussion and analysis of results of operations and financial condition. The Company has identified six policies as being significant because they require management to make subjective and/or complex judgments about matters that are inherently uncertain. These policies relate to Valuations of Financial Instruments, Allowance for Credit Losses, Securitizations, Goodwill, Income Taxes and Legal Reserves. The Company, in consultation with the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors, has reviewed and approved these significant accounting policies, which are further described under "Significant Accounting Policies and Significant Estimates" and Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements in the Company's 2010 Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Principles of Consolidation

        The Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of the Company. The Company consolidates subsidiaries in which it holds, directly or indirectly, more than 50% of the voting rights or where it exercises control. Entities where the Company holds 20% to 50% of the voting rights and/or has the ability to exercise significant influence, other than investments of designated venture capital subsidiaries, or investments accounted for at fair value under the fair value option, are accounted for under the equity method, and the pro rata share of their income (loss) is included in Other revenue. Income from investments in less than 20%-owned companies is recognized when dividends are received. Citigroup consolidates entities deemed to be variable interest entities when Citigroup is determined to be the primary beneficiary. Gains and losses on the disposition of branches, subsidiaries, affiliates, buildings, and other investments and charges for management's estimate of impairment in their value that is other than temporary, such that recovery of the carrying amount is deemed unlikely, are included in Other revenue.

Repurchase and Resale Agreements

        Securities sold under agreements to repurchase (repos) and securities purchased under agreements to resell (reverse repos) generally do not constitute a sale for accounting purposes of the underlying securities, and so are treated as collateralized financing transactions. Where certain conditions are met under ASC 860-10, Transfers and Servicing (formerly FASB Statement No. 166, Accounting for Transfers of Financial Assets), the Company accounts for certain repurchase agreements and securities lending agreements as sales. The key distinction resulting in these agreements being accounted for as sales is a reduction in initial margin or restriction in daily maintenance margin. At June 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010, a nominal amount of these transactions were accounted for as sales that reduced trading account assets.

ACCOUNTING CHANGES

Change in Accounting for Embedded Credit Derivatives

        In March 2010, the FASB issued ASU 2010-11, Scope Exception Related to Embedded Credit Derivatives. The ASU clarifies that certain embedded derivatives, such as those contained in certain securitizations, CDOs and structured notes, should be considered embedded credit derivatives subject to potential bifurcation and separate fair value accounting. The ASU allows any beneficial interest issued by a securitization vehicle to be accounted for under the fair value option at transition on July 1, 2010.

        The Company has elected to account for certain beneficial interests issued by securitization vehicles under the fair value option that are included in the table below. Beneficial interests previously classified as held-to-maturity (HTM) were reclassified to available-for-sale (AFS) on June 30, 2010, because, as of that reporting date, the Company did not have the intent to hold the beneficial interests until maturity.

        The following table also shows the gross gains and gross losses that make up the pretax cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings for reclassified beneficial interests, recorded on July 1, 2010:

 
   
  July 1, 2010    
 
 
   
  Pretax cumulative effect adjustment to Retained earnings    
 
In millions of dollars at June 30, 2010   Amortized cost   Gross unrealized losses
recognized in AOCI(1)
  Gross unrealized gains
recognized in AOCI
  Fair value  

Mortgage-backed securities

                         
 

Prime

  $ 390   $   $ 49   $ 439  
 

Alt-A

    550         54     604  
 

Subprime

    221         6     227  
 

Non-U.S. residential

    2,249         38     2,287  
                   

Total mortgage-backed securities

  $ 3,410   $   $ 147   $ 3,557  
                   

Asset-backed securities

                         
 

Auction rate securities

  $ 4,463   $ 401   $ 48   $ 4,110  
 

Other asset-backed

    4,189     19     164     4,334  
                   

Total asset-backed securities

  $ 8,652   $ 420   $ 212   $ 8,444  
                   

Total reclassified debt securities

  $ 12,062   $ 420   $ 359   $ 12,001  
                   

(1)
All reclassified debt securities with gross unrealized losses were assessed for other-than-temporary-impairment as of June 30, 2010, including an assessment of whether the Company intends to sell the security. For securities that the Company intends to sell, impairment charges of $176 million were recorded in earnings in the second quarter of 2010.

        Beginning July 1, 2010, the Company elected to account for these beneficial interests under the fair value option for various reasons, including:

  • To reduce the operational burden of assessing beneficial interests for bifurcation under the guidance in the ASU;

    Where bifurcation would otherwise be required under the ASU, to avoid the complicated operational requirements of bifurcating the embedded derivatives from the host contracts and accounting for each separately. The Company reclassified substantially all beneficial interests where bifurcation would otherwise be required under the ASU; and

    To permit more economic hedging strategies while minimizing volatility in reported earnings.

Credit Quality and Allowance for Credit Losses Disclosures

        In July 2010, the FASB issued ASU No. 2010-20, Disclosures about Credit Quality of Financing Receivables and Allowance for Credit Losses. The ASU requires a greater level of disaggregated information about the allowance for credit losses and the credit quality of financing receivables. The period-end balance disclosure requirements for loans and the allowance for loans losses were effective for reporting periods ending on or after December 15, 2010 and were included in the Company's 2010 Annual Report on Form 10-K, while disclosures for activity during a reporting period in the loan and allowance for loan losses accounts were effective for reporting periods beginning on or after December 15, 2010 and are included in this quarterly report (see Notes 12 and 13 to the Consolidated Financial Statements). The FASB has deferred the troubled debt restructuring (TDR) disclosure requirements that were part of this ASU to be concurrent with the effective date of recently issued guidance for identifying a TDR (discussed below), in the third quarter of 2011.

FUTURE APPLICATION OF ACCOUNTING STANDARDS

Troubled Debt Restructurings (TDRs)

        In April 2011, the FASB issued ASU No. 2011-02, Receivables (Topic 310): A Creditor's Determination of whether a Restructuring is a Troubled Debt Restructuring, to clarify the guidance for accounting for troubled debt restructurings (TDRs). The ASU clarifies the guidance on a creditor's evaluation of whether it has granted a concession and whether a debtor is experiencing financial difficulties, such as:

  • Creditors cannot assume that debt extensions at or above a borrower's original contractual rate do not constitute troubled debt restructurings.

    If a borrower doesn't have access to funds at a market rate for debt with characteristics similar to the restructured debt, that may indicate that the creditor has granted a concession.

    A borrower that is not currently in default may still be considered to be experiencing financial difficulty when payment default is considered "probable in the foreseeable future."

        The guidance will be effective for the Company's third quarter 2011 Form 10-Q and is to be applied retrospectively to restructurings occurring on or after January 1, 2011. The impact of the adopting the ASU is expected to be immaterial.

Repurchase Agreements—Assessment of Effective Control

        In April 2011, the FASB issued ASU No. 2011-03, Transfers and Servicing (Topic 860)—Reconsideration of Effective Control for Repurchase Agreements. The amendments in the ASU remove from the assessment of effective control: (1) the criterion requiring the transferor to have the ability to repurchase or redeem the financial assets on substantially the agreed terms, even in the event of default by the transferee, and (2) the collateral maintenance implementation guidance related to that criterion. Other criteria applicable to the assessment of effective control are not changed by the amendments in the ASU.

        The ASU is effective for Citigroup on January 1, 2012. The guidance should be applied prospectively to transactions or modifications of existing transactions that occur on or after the effective date. Early adoption is not permitted. The ASU will not have a material effect on the Company's financial statements. A nominal amount of transactions currently accounted for as sales, because of a reduction in initial margin or restriction in daily maintenance margin, would be accounted for as financing transactions if executed on or after January 1, 2012.

Fair Value Measurement

        In May 2011, the FASB issued ASU No. 2011-04, Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820): Amendments to Achieve Common Fair Value Measurement and Disclosure Requirements in U.S. GAAP and IFRS. The amendment creates a common definition of fair value for U.S. GAAP and IFRS and aligns the measurement and disclosure requirements. It requires significant additional disclosures both of a qualitative and quantitative nature, particularly on those instruments measured at fair value that are classified in level 3 of the fair value hierarchy. Additionally, the amendment provides guidance on when it is appropriate to measure fair value on a portfolio basis and expands the prohibition on valuation adjustments that result from the size of a position from Level 1 to all levels of the fair value hierarchy. The amendment is effective for Citigroup beginning January 1, 2012. The Company is evaluating the impact of this amendment.

Loss-Contingency Disclosures

        In July 2010, the FASB issued a second exposure draft proposing expanded disclosures regarding loss contingencies. This proposal increases the number of loss contingencies subject to disclosure and requires substantial quantitative and qualitative information to be provided about those loss contingencies. The proposal will have no impact on the Company's accounting for loss contingencies.

Potential Amendments to Current Accounting Standards

        The FASB and IASB are currently working on several joint projects, including amendments to existing accounting standards governing financial instruments and lease accounting. Upon completion of the standards, the Company will need to re-evaluate its accounting and disclosures. The FASB is proposing sweeping changes to the classification and measurement of financial instruments, hedging and impairment guidance. The FASB is also working on a project that would require all leases to be capitalized on the balance sheet. These projects will have significant impacts for the Company. However, due to ongoing deliberations of the standard setters, the Company is currently unable to determine the effect of future amendments or proposals.