Foreign Currency Home Secured Loan to Widen Citibank Hungary Retail Offering

Budapest – Statistical data show that more than half of the total loans in the Hungarian households are currently foreign currency based. At the end of 2007, foreign currency based loans amounted to 1,000 billion forints and new disbursements in 2007 reached 400 billion forints. Along with this market trend, more and more families are using a variety of loan products simultaneously, such as personal loans, durable goods loans or car finance loans, with increasing complexity in managing multiple debt repayments. This creates strong customer need for a balance consolidation loan, for example, a competitively priced foreign currency based home-secured loan. In response to this growing customer demand, Citibank Hungary introduced the Foreign Currency Home Secured Loan denominated in Swiss Franc and in Euro. The new Citi loan product presents a viable option for customers to consolidate their various debts into a single preferential rate loan that can measurably reduce the financial burden.

"Since last year, we have been offering the forint based Home Secured Loan to our customers, which ensures predictable monthly installments. However, research that we conducted among our customers clearly showed an increasing customer interest in foreign currency based loans, especially in Swiss Franc. As a response to this growing need we have introduced the Foreign Currency Home Secured Loan. We expect that many customers will be using it for consolidating their existing loans," said Batara Sianturi, Citi Country Officer for Citibank Zrt. "With this step we are enhancing our home-secured loan product offering while strengthening our market position in this segment," added Mr. Sianturi.

Tenor of the new loan is from one to thirty years depending on the individuals' income level, and amounts can vary between the equivalent of HUF 1 million and 30 million.

Loans in the selected foreign currency are being disbursed in forint by transferring the amount to the customer's bank account with Citibank Hungary. Monthly installment payments, calculated semi-annually by the bank based on the actual FX rates, are also managed through this bank account in local currency.

Annual interest rate in the first six-month period for Swiss Franc based Home Secured Loans for amounts exceeding 10 million forints is 1.99%, and thereafter 3.99%, while in case of Euro based loans the yearly interest rate is 5.99%.

Individuals meeting Citibank's application criteria may apply for the Swiss Franc or Euro based Home Secured Loan at Citibank branches and Sales Centers. For further information, customers may call CitiPhone Banking at 06-40-24-84-24 or visit www.citibank.hu

Citi
Citi, the leading global financial services company, has some 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 100 countries, providing consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management. Citi's major brand names include Citibank, CitiFinancial, Primerica, Smith Barney, Banamex, and Nikko. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com or www.citi.com.