Jane Fraser Opening Statement House Committee on Financial Services

Chairwoman Waters, Ranking Member McHenry, and Members of the Committee: Good morning, and thank you for the opportunity to represent Citi today.

When a similar group convened with this committee last year, we shared how our banks supported the economy during the global pandemic.

Today, the worst of Covid may be behind us – but the economic challenges we are facing are no less daunting.

The reforms you put in place – and the work we’ve done since the financial crisis to strengthen our bank’s financial foundation – have enabled us to continue serving as a source of stability.

While today I am a proud American citizen, as someone who grew up in the UK, I can attest that the banking system and capital markets here in the States are the envy of others.

Our financial institutions and financial markets are essential to American competitiveness abroad and a reason why the U.S. is the top destination for foreign investment.

As living expenses for Americans increase and concerns about the economy grow, we remain focused on our role as a bank in job and wealth creation.

Through Citi’s extensive global network and footprint, we partner with the most iconic American businesses, as well as the federal government, to help them navigate the global economy.

We have been supporting our clients as they build resiliency, reconfigure supply chains and adapt to inflationary pressures.

We help these institutions invest in projects that put them in position to succeed in the 21st century. These investments also put a lot of people to work.

The private sector clients we serve are where millions of Americans proudly earn their living, and those clients rely on vendors and suppliers that, in turn, employ millions more.

At Citi, we employ 70,000 people here in the U.S., working in cities across the country such as Jacksonville, St. Louis and L.A.

The work we do with our public sector partners is a prime example of how we put our balance sheet to work to benefit local communities.

In 2021 alone, we partnered with state and local governments to catalyze more than $27 billion in infrastructure investment, such as schools, hospitals and roads. Many of these large projects would have been impossible without a bank of Citi’s scale to back them.

We financed more than $5.6 billion in affordable housing projects last year in communities across 32 states from California to Ohio to New York. This total made us the number one affordable housing lender in the U.S. for the 12th year in a row.

Breaking down barriers to banking is also a top priority for us.

In fact, this past summer we became the first of the largest U.S. banks to completely eliminate overdraft fees and returned-item fees for our customers.

Earlier this year, we launched a first-of-its-kind diverse financial institutions group to lead our engagement with minority depository institutions and diverse broker dealers and asset managers.

This group is focused on helping these diverse institutions scale and expand into new markets, and it includes a groundbreaking rotational program that embeds Citi executives within MDIs for up to a year.

Bottom line is, my Citi colleagues and I understand and embrace the responsibility that banks play in advancing economic empowerment and mobility.

I hope my pride in Citi’s story has come through.

But I also want to be clear about recognizing the need to continue improving as we strive to build an even safer and sounder bank for the future.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you about the work we’re doing to support American consumers and businesses.

I look forward to your questions.