You'd think they would know better than to turn away legitimate business considering they're about to get their asses handed to them by sub-prime:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aqYaLg9W6sv8&refer=home
Citigroup to Take $16 Billion Writedown, Merrill Says
By Edward Evans
Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc., the biggest U.S. bank, may be forced to write down $16 billion in the fourth quarter and post a larger loss than previously estimated, Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst Guy Moszkowski said.
Moszkowski almost doubled his estimate for Citigroup's loss to $1.43 a share from 73 cents, he wrote in a note to clients today. Moszkowski, the top-rated U.S. bank analyst according to Institutional Investor magazine, maintained his ``neutral'' rating on the New York-based bank.
Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. have also cut their estimates for Citigroup on concern the bank will mark down some of its $55 billion of subprime and collateralized debt obligation holdings. U.S. subprime-mortgage defaults have forced financial institutions to announce at least $100 billion of asset writedowns and losses on bad loans.
Writedowns at Bear Stearns Cos. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., whose fiscal year ends a month earlier than Citigroup in November, suggest ``substantial deterioration in the value of the underlying securities'' as well as the failure of some hedging strategies, Moszkowski wrote. ``Further, overall fixed-income trading results were abysmal at all most November year-end firms and likely worsened in December,'' he wrote.
Citigroup Chief Executive Officer Charles Prince stepped down two months ago after the bank said it may write down as much as $11 billion on top of more than $6 billion of charges reported for the third quarter.
Sanford Bernstein's Howard Mason said Citigroup may have to cut the value of holdings by $12 billion in the fourth quarter. Goldman's William Tanona predicted an $18.7 billion reduction.
Moszkowski also cut his fourth-quarter earnings estimates for JPMorgan Chase & Co. to 94 cents a share from $1.04, saying the No. 3 U.S. bank after Citigroup and Bank of America Corp. may have to write down the value of subprime assets by about $1.4 billion.