Forum Post: Internal Citi memo

My daughter in law works for Citi, she sent me this.

To: North America Consumer Banking colleagues From: Cece Stewart, President, U.S. Consumer and Commercial Banking Date: October 17, 2011 Re: Clarifying the Protester Situation

As you may have seen or heard in the media this weekend, one of our Citibank branches was the target of an Occupy Wall Street protest demonstration that resulted in a number of arrests. Please allow me to take this opportunity to clarify with you what happened, as it is important the facts be made clear. At approximately 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, a large number of people entered into the Citibank branch at 555 LaGuardia Place in New York City. With the group being disruptive and refusing to leave after the assistant branch manager’s repeated requests, the police were notified. Within minutes, the police arrived and asked the staff to close the branch until the protesters were removed. Since that branch normally closes at 3:00 p.m. on Saturdays, it remained closed after the incident. Despite some reports to the contrary, only a single request was made by one of the demonstrators to close their account, and that was accommodated.  Our colleagues who were in the branch during the incident are to be commended for handling this situation professionally and appropriately. In addition, we are thankful to the New York City Police Department for their quick response and assistance. Although we never hope for instances such as this to occur, you should feel secure in knowing there are plans in place to alleviate the situation in a calm and orderly manner.  While it is understandable that the current economic environment can be frustrating, all of this should serve as a reminder about the importance of staying focused as a team on rebuilding trust and serving our clients and our communities with excellence.  If you have any questions or concerns, I encourage you to contact your manager or reach out to me directly.   Regards, Cece