MagnifyMoney 
Citi Personal Wealth Management is part of the larger Citigroup brand, which is well-known for its consumer banking operations. This wealth management division offers clients investment products and advisory services, including portfolio management and financial planning, through the Citigroup Global Markets Inc. (CGMI) unit. There are several portfolio strategy options available, and minimum investment requirements vary by program.
The bottom line: Citi Personal Wealth Management, a division within Citigroup, offers portfolio management and financial planning for individual and institutional clients.
| Assets under management (AUM): $38,271,725,251 | |
| Minimum investment: Varies by account type, generally starting at $25,000 | |
| Individual investor to advisor ratio: 15:1 | |
| Fee structure: A percentage of AUM, fixed fees | |
| Headquarters: 388 Greenwich Street New York, NY 10013 Website: investments.citi.com/pwm Phone: 212-816-6000 |
All information included in this profile is accurate as of September 24, 2021. For more information, please consult Citi Personal Wealth Management’s website.
Citi Personal Wealth Management is the wealth management arm of the Citi brand, which is known as one of the nation’s “big four” largest banks. Citigroup was created in 1998 when Citicorp and Travelers Group merged. Yet the company’s roots date back to 1812, when the City Bank of New York was established.
Owned by the financial services colossus Citigroup Inc., a publicly traded company, the wealth management division is responsible for providing financial advisory and investment services to Citi’s many banking clients. In 2021, Citigroup reorganized this arm by combining its private bank for ultra-wealthy clients and its consumer wealth management services into one unit called Citi Global Wealth.
The unit currently has over 8,100 employees, approximately 3,400 of whom perform financial advisory and research services.
The majority of the firm’s clients are individuals in the non-high net worth category, although there are thousands of clients with a high net worth as well. (For reference, the SEC defines high net worth individuals as those with at least $750,000 under management or a net worth of at least $1.5 million.) Clients must enter into an agreement with Citi Private Bank (CPB), CGMI or Citibank in order to participate in the programs offered by the firm.
Relationships with a financial advisor through Citi typically require an investment of at least $25,000, though minimums can range much higher than that, up to $25 million. The minimum amount required for the division’s low-cost robo-advisor program is $1,500.
Citi Personal Wealth Management provides clients with ongoing portfolio management as well as a la carte financial planning services.
Portfolio management: For portfolio management, clients have numerous programs from which to choose. They can tap Citi financial advisors to directly manage their portfolios, or opt for the advisors to recommend specific professional managers, including unrelated parties, to oversee their account. Clients can have their portfolios managed either through a discretionary relationship, in which advisors are in charge of all trades, or a non-discretionary arrangement, in which clients are responsible for making trades but still receive recommendations from advisors.
Financial planning: Individuals and families can also tap the team for a written financial plan to help achieve specific financial goals. Topics addressed can include insurance needs, estate planning, education planning, retirement, taxes and expenditures. The plan is intended to be a one-time list of recommendations; it will not be continuously updated.
Additional services and products: Outside of the registered investment advisory services, the wealth management group also serves as a broker-dealer. Thus, advisors can place individual trades in client brokerage accounts and earn commissions per trade. Advisors can also sell insurance products, such as annuities.
Here is a list of services offered through Citi Personal Wealth Management:
To guide their decision-making process, Citi financial advisors and portfolio managers have access to the bank’s internal research, including insight from their economists and industry specialists.
In general, to decide which investment managers and products to offer clients, the team relies on a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis, evaluating factors such as a company’s management team, investment process, staffing and operational issues. Performance metrics including absolute return, volatility and risk-adjusted return may be analyzed and charted.
How client money is invested ultimately will depend on the type of account the client chooses as well as the financial advisor. An advisor can create a custom portfolio for each client, based on the client’s goals, risk tolerance and time horizon. Alternatively, clients can choose from a list of recommended portfolio managers and asset allocation models. Separately managed accounts are also available, as well as investments in alternative funds, such as hedge funds.
Overall, portfolios created by the firm may be invested in:
For portfolio management, clients typically pay an annual fee calculated as a percentage of their assets under management. Rates vary based on the program selected. The fee to Citi generally ranges from 0.60% to 2.00% of assets under management, depending on the type and size of the account, and the rate is often negotiable. Fees are typically paid quarterly in advance.
Clients who hire an additional layer of portfolio managers will pay an extra fee for those services, ranging from 0.10% to 0.35% for fixed-income strategies and 0.25% to 0.50% for other strategies. Investment managers may also charge a performance-based fee. Keep in mind that clients will also pay internal mutual fund and ETF fees, as well as trading costs when another firm is used.
Financial planning is generally offered at no additional cost. The online advisory program is also included at no cost for certain clients, or at a rate of 0.55% to new clients.
CGMI, of which the Citi Personal Wealth Management is a part, discloses hundreds of pages of allegations against it and its predecessor firms from regulators including the SEC, FINRA, certain states and others. In many instances, the firm settled cases without admitting or denying guilt. For reference, the SEC requires all registered investment advisors to disclose on their Form ADV whenever the firm, an employee or an affiliate faces any disciplinary or legal actions that are material to a client’s evaluation of the advisory business or the integrity of the management team.
The company’s long list of disclosures includes issues such as:
For more information on the firm, you can go to its IAPD page.
On its Form ADV, Citi Personal Wealth Management lists the following as locations for its offices:
However, this does not appear to be the full list, as the firm notes in its Form ADV that it has over 660 offices. Additionally, the firm is registered to do business in all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam.
To find out if there is an advisor near you, you can use the advisor locator tool on Citi’s website or call the firm at 1-877-357-3399.
Citi Personal Wealth Management aims to offer Citi clients investment products and wealth management services alongside the brand’s traditional banking and product offerings. Current Citi clients can look at their advisory program offerings since they may qualify for some services, such as financial planning, at no cost, or get discounts on other services. In addition, clients looking to establish a relationship with a large bank offering a laundry list of investment options can consider Citi.
Clients will need to speak to each specific advisor to determine their services and fees, since they vary by advisor. And remember, fees are negotiable. You’ll also want to keep in mind the fact that Citi Personal Wealth Management does earn commissions for certain products and services, and that not all advisors can offer every service. Before you make your decision, be sure to research multiple firms to ensure you find the right advisor for you.
Amanda GenglerAmanda Gengler has been researching and writing about finance for more than 15 years. She honed her personal finance writing as a journalist at Money magazine for a decade.
Read More
