Citigroup Falls Below US Bancorp in Market Value

Citigroup, once the largest U.S. bank by market value, has fallen to fifth, dropping behind U.S. Bancorp—which is one-eighth as large by assets.

The market capitalization of Citigroup fell as low as $42.2 billion early Wednesday, as the bank's shares dropped as much as 7.3 percent to a 13-year low of $7.75. U.S. Bancorp's market value was slightly below $44 billion in early trading.

Larger U.S. banks by market value include JPMorgan Chase [JPM 28.47 -3.67 (-11.42%) ], Wells Fargo [WFC 24.40 -2.80 (-10.29%) ] and Bank of America [BAC 13.06 -2.13 (-14.03%) ]. Citigroup's market value topped $270 billion in late 2006.



Citigroup has been under pressure because of mounting losses from mortgages and complex debt instruments, and on Monday announced plans to cut 52,000 jobs by early next year.

On Wednesday, a Fox-Pitt Kelton analyst said the bank could face $3 billion of writedowns in the fourth quarter. Citigroup also said it would buy $17.4 billion of assets held by structured investment vehicles it advised.

Citigroup [C 6.40 -1.96 (-23.46%) ] is based in New York, and ended September with $2.05 trillion of assets. U.S. Bancorp [USB 23.62 -2.11 (-8.2%) ] is based in Minneapolis, and reported $247.1 billion of assets.

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Copyright 2008 Reuters.