Citigroup Inc., the world's largest financial services company, on Friday said it will consolidate its capital markets funding business into two parts, and simplify the company's legal structure.
New York-based Citigroup did not immediately return a call seeking comment on why it is making the changes.
In the funding consolidation, Citigroup Funding Inc., a new unit, will issue commercial paper and medium-term notes, while Citigroup Inc. will continue to issue long-term debt, preferred securities and common stock. This consolidation will begin in the second quarter.
Citigroup said it expects to unconditionally guarantee the outstanding public debt of its Citigroup Global Markets Holdings Inc. unit. That entity will stop filing periodic reports with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Separately, Citigroup said its Citigroup Holdings Co. and Citicorp intermediate bank holding companies will merge into the parent by the end of the third quarter, pending regulatory approval. Citigroup will assume Citicorp's existing debt and guarantees.
Citigroup is one of the largest U.S. debt issuers.
Last year, it issued $41.9 billion of debt, which was $10.2 billion more than Bank of America Corp., the next largest U.S. bank issuer, offered, according to Lehman Brothers Inc. research. Citigroup has about $65 billion of rated long-term debt, according to Moody's Investors Service.
