Boston firm leads nuns, union in Citi break-up bid

Louis Lanzano/AP

Former Citi chief Sandy Weill has called for big banks' break-up. Now a Boston firm is formally asking Citi to consider splitting up.?

On behalf of the Kansas-based Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica and the AFSCME Employees Pension Plan, Trillium Asset Management LLC argues Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) should break up in order to boost shareholder value.

Trillium filed a shareholder proposal asking Citigroup?s board of directors to consider the possible separation of business units. The firm says shareholders are concerned about Citigroup?s inability, imposed by regulators, to return capital to stockholders because of concerns over its financial stability.

Citigroup is too complex and has a bad name thanks to the ?too big to fail? tag, such that any breakdown in risk management, increase in regulatory scrutiny, litigation expense or increased capital requirements could further dent returns for investors, Trillium argues.

The firm asks Citigroup?s board to appoint an independent committee to consider ?transactions that could enhance stockholder value,? including breaking off one or more business units.

In July, former Citi chief Sandy Weill said the biggest banks should break up, arguing that "too big to fail" puts too great a risk on depositors and taxpayers. In October, Citi appointed a new CEO, Michael Corbat, who was previously in charge of winding down Citi Holdings.

Trillium's request asks that the committee publicly report its findings within 120 days of Citigroup?s 2013 annual meeting.

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Source: http://feeds.bizjournals.com/~r/bbj_morning_roundup/~3/BZEzCLmpkNE/citi-breakup.html

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