May 9, 2008 9:05AM

Citi’s Pandit Committed To Growing Global Card Unit

By Donna Fuscaldo

Pandit turns the microphone over to Steve Freiberg, Citi’s head of its global consumer group which includes its debit and credit cards. Pandit did take the chance to admit one (of many mistakes) at Citi: cutting back on marketing in that unit. Pandit said that was a mistake but that there is a “lot of growth” in the Global Card business. Pandit vowed to cut costs and pour the savings back into marketing where it’s appropriate. Pandit said Citi is committed to growing the business and dismissed criticism that the company needs to have thousands of branches. If Citi had “5,000 branches” in the U.S. the company could “hand out a lot of cards but it wouldn’t be large enough to support our growth strategy,” said Pandit. Things are likely to get heated later at the meeting when analysts have their chance to grill Citi executives.