Pressure on Citigroup builds, shares fall below $4

CEO Vikram Pandit told managers earlier in the day he opposes breaking up the company, but the bank's board of directors was meeting Friday to discuss whether to do exactly that, the Wall Street Journal reported.

What investors are worried about is that all the risky debt sitting on Citigroup's balance sheet will eventually turn into losses as the economy worsens and the markets stay turbulent--losses that could be nearly impossible to reverse.

Investors were also fearful that the government might orchestrate a takeover of Citigroup over the weekend that could wipe out common shareholders, said Paul Miller, a Friedman Billings Ramsey banking analyst.

The government was instrumental in JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s buyout of Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual Inc., deals that left shareholders with little or no payouts.

The Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve and other banking regulators are monitoring the situation, government officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter.

Concerns about the solvency of financial institutions were starting to ebb after the downfall earlier in the year of Bear Stearns Cos., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., and American International Group Inc. But now they are back with a vengeance as the recession deepens, raising the prospects of even more massive loan losses.

Just a couple months ago, Citigroup was the largest bank in the world by assets, stretching into everything from credit cards to consumer banking to high-stakes corporate dealmaking. The company was the result of an idea spawned by the financial deregulation in the late 1990s--that consumers and corporations alike would be better served by a bank that could meet all of their needs.

Almost from the start, though, investors complained Citigroup was too sprawling and too complex to manage properly. And when the subprime mortgage crisis ripped through Wall Street starting last year, Citigroup was hit especially hard because of its high exposure to bad debt. Now, it has failed to turn a profit during the past four quarters, and its shares are trading for less than the cost of a pint of beer at a Wall Street pub.

As a result, analysts consider Citigroup the most vulnerable among the major U.S. banks--especially after it failed to nab Wachovia Corp., bought instead by Wells Fargo & Co., a missed opportunity that put Citi behind in the race for U.S. deposits.