Citigroup Inc. (C) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Welcome all to the 10th Annual Veterans on Wall Street Symposium hosted by Chris Perkins. At this time, I'd like to hand the call over to Chris. Chris, you may begin.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the 10th Annual Veterans on Wall Street National Symposium. My name is Christopher Perkins, and I'm a Marine Corps combat veteran, and I'll be a veteran for the rest of my life, and I'm proud to be a veteran because veterans are not victims. We are highly valuable and uniquely skilled employees and citizens. We have served and we have sacrificed, and for veterans of my generation, we are all volunteers. Like many of us across the veterans community, I decided to join the military because I was looking for a challenge. And I wanted to be part of something bigger than myself, and I wanted to serve. I graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland and accepted the commission in the United States Marine Corps. As a young 20 something, I had experiences and responsibilities that were the envy of my civilian peers. Even during this time of piece, I was exposed to foreign cultures, learned how to build teams, solve complex problems, and most importantly, I learned what it meant to be a leader. In 2004, as a young marine captain, I was dropped into the heart of the Sunni Triangle, Ar Ramadi, to conduct stability and support operations as I joined the storage 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines. Immediately, I found myself in the middle a very bloody and extremely complex urban combat in the capital of the Al Anbar province. Everyday, for 7 months, we are on the receiving end of IUDs, RPGs, mortars, small arms fire and suicide bombers, anything the enemy could throw at us as we cleared the infamous [indiscernible] and fought for the hearts and minds and the people in the city. I learned many lessons from my experience in the Marines and Ar Ramadi. I learned about the power of diversity, team building and mission accomplishment. Though my team included Hispanic, black, Asian and white, Christian, Jewish and Muslim marines, we united around 1 color, the color of Marine Corp green, and leveraged our collective differences to strengthen, not divide us. The only bias the military instilled in all of us was a bias for action. I learned about innovation. We had to outthink our enemies and operate in a very dynamic and hostile environment. We pioneered new tactics and leverage new technologies to combat the insurgents. To win hearts and minds, we needed to use our minds and have empathetic hearts. I learned how to be a leader in an environment with no rule of law, where you were armed only with your rifle, your brain, and most importantly, your ethics. The Marine Corp and the war in Iraq did not leave me broken and in despair, rather like the vast preponderance of my fellow veterans, it made me stronger, wiser and equipped me with unique skills that could never be taught in a classroom or in the office. And these skills, ladies and gentlemen, were not -- or absolutely not unique to me. When I made the transition 15 years ago, I found that society was incredibly appreciative of my service and willing to help. But there are a few formal programs that can best prepare me for the challenges of a civilian career that laid ahead. Regardless, I worked hard to cobble together a network. I knew that I couldn't do this by myself. It may have taken a village, but I was able to make the transition and decided to grow a career in finance, a career that I enjoy to this day. And it was the skills and experiences that my fellow veterans and I acquired in the military that helped us drive value for our firms and for our clients in the dark days of the global financial crisis, to the unique stresses and challenges of today's COVID pandemic. I will tell you that finance is an incredibly exciting career, and the risk management skills we learned in the military have direct applicability. Along the way, a number of us realized that the business community desperately needed the unique skills and characteristics of military veterans, while transitioning veterans craved dynamic and challenging careers. Something must be done. In 2009, we found we founded Citi's first military veterans network in order to help drive our veterans recruiting, enhance our retention and to focus our firm on community service. I cannot stress this enough. Our goal here was not charity. Rather, we recognize that hiring veterans was an imperative to the success of our business, and it really helped us elevate our culture. Then in 2011, we did something that was unheard of on Wall Street. For once, the major banks decided to put aside our competitive differences, and formed Veterans on Wall Street, or VOWS, which was designed to serve as an industry consortium to share best practices in order to recruit, retain and advance the careers of veterans and their spouses. And since we're Wall Street, we decided to leverage our collective resources to raise money for veteran service organizations. VOWS has now expanded to lot over 100 companies. We have raised over $15 million for veterans organizations, including our strategic partner, the Bob Woodruff Foundation, and trained over 3,500 veterans and hiring managers on the value that veterans deliver. VOWS chapters have formed in numerous cities. And today, we're happy and excited to announce the launch of our newest chapter in the Greater Washington, D.C. area. We do this because we recognize that military veterans remain an incredible resource. And veterans' experience and service translate to business success. Today, the world is gripped by the COVID pandemic. Now more than ever, we believe that the unique skills and experiences of our veterans, especially their resiliency, are more valuable now than ever to our communities and our businesses. Many of my fellow veterans know how to fight invisible enemy, we know how to overcome, and we know how to win. During today's symposium, we hope that transitioning service members and spouses will have an opportunity to learn about keys to a successful transition and have an opportunity to network with companies who are ready to hire. For our corporate participants, we hope that you will come away from today's symposium with a deeper understanding of the value and results that veterans deliver. We also hope veterans and hiring managers will leverage the power of our recently launched flagship recruiting platform, WayUp to take their veterans hiring to the next level. Now I'd like to hand it over to my dear friend, Col. Ruth Christopherson, United States Air Force, and Director of Citi Salutes. Over to you, Ruth.

Thank you, Chris. I probably served for over 30 years in the military, a career, which carried me from airmen basic to colonel. As member of the Air National Guard, 12 of those years of service coincided with my employment at Citi. So I know what it's like to have a partner in a career that will support military service. As Chief of Staff for the South Dakota Air National Guard, I saw firsthand the impact and value veterans had working within corporations and their communities. My discussions of career path with young airmen was not exclusive to their military career path, but also their civilian careers. The critical needs I follow with any member of the unit was how to tell their story, how do they put into resume what they learned while in the military, translate not only the tangible skills, but intangible skills veterans bring to organizations. As Chris mentioned, the many skills found in the military are not something taught in a classroom. It is innate in our military families being carried on their civilian careers and in commitment to communities. Another important quality we find in our veterans and their families is the desire to continue to serve even post military service. This may be in the form of continuing to serve in the guard air reserves, such as I did, which combines that transition not only from active duty but transition into a civilian career while in the guard air reserve. They also are very dedicated to community. Veterans and spouses are amazing community partners, giving up their time and talent to support the committees in which they live. This is embraced by Citi and our partners involved, where they have employee networks and their work in the community is key to everything we do. The work of VOWS and our partners addresses these challenges and opportunities to events like this symposium. The speakers today and breakout sessions this afternoon are designed to help veterans and their spouses find a career, not just a job. Today, we have a full day of hearing some great speakers, sharing their stories, the work they do with veterans and their dedication we all have to our country. The pandemic has truly impacted our lives, but it's shown our ability to adapt, be agile and to be innovative. This virtual symposium is one of those creative innovative results of our current crisis. Frankly, we have had so many people that have supported the creation of this symposium as well as many who wanted to participate that our morning is jam-packed full of great events. While the full list of discussion does not allow for this morning's Q&A, the value of the content and the interactive afternoon session will provide plenty of opportunities for everybody to engage. To accompany and lead us on our journey today, we recruited a distinguished lineup of powerful speakers and thinkers, including, among others, General Joseph Dunford of United States Marine Corps, the 19th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is our keynote speaker; Jake Wood, CEO of Team Rubicon and author of Once a Warrior; Liz Wessel, CEO and Co-founder of WayUp, the online job platform, providing all of you an opportunity to create a free candidate profile; Anne Marie Dougherty, CEO, the Bob Woodruff Foundation; and Bob Woodruff, ABC News Correspondent and Co-founder of the Bob Woodruff Foundation. We'll also have an executive panel of speakers for the public and private sector, including Suni Harford, a distinguished alumna of our firm, a VOWS Co-founder and President of UBS Asset Management; Christiana Riley, CEO, Deutsche Bank; Nick Lane, President, Equitable; Bruce Mosler, Chairman of Global Brokerage, Cushman & Wakefield; Gary Shedlin, Chief Financial Officer, BlackRock; James Hendon, Commissioner, New York City division of Veterans Services. After we hear from these outstanding leaders, we take a short break before jumping right into our afternoon session. The afternoon is specifically designed to be very interactive. There are sessions, including the skill-building workshops as well as opportunities to attend a variety of virtual corp session -- corporate breakout session. These sessions will be a time for you to learn, ask questions and also to network. All of the breakout information is in your registration link. Now back to our master of ceremonies for today, Chris Perkins, to introduce our opening speaker.

Thanks so much, Ruth. And thank you again for taking the time to participate in what we believe will be a truly inspiring day. I now have the great privilege of introducing our first speaker, our CEO here at Citi. Mike Corbat. The veterans community know something about loyalty. Mike, you've served at Citi for 37 years, the last 8, as CEO, and you've led our company with a focus on our mission and values. We're honored that you're taking time out of your busy schedule to be with us today. You've set the tone from the top that we're a company that's committed to diversity and inclusion, and an important part of this is our long-standing commitment to veterans. We're grateful that you're so committed to Citi Salutes, our veterans affinity network and that you are fully supportive of VOWS. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome, Mike Corbat.

Thanks, Chris, thanks, Ruth, for that very warm welcome. And I'm sure today is going to be both an inspiring and an impactful day. So on behalf of all of us at Citi, I'd like to thank our fellow founding firms for joining us today, in this truly collaborative effort. We're honored this year to host the annual symposium as we celebrate its tenth anniversary. And while circumstances and safety considerations dictated a change of format this year, our mission very much remains the same. We're here to explore the challenges and opportunities faced by veterans, transitioning into the civilian workforce, especially in this current environment. I'd like to also thank our distinguished speakers and panelists and the many people who've worked hard over the past several months to adapt this event into a virtual program. And on behalf of Citi and VOWS, I'd like to thank the hundreds of thousands of veteran and armed service colleagues who work at member institutions for your service, not just today, but every day. We're grateful for your sacrifices, and it's a true honor to work alongside you. Thinking back to 2011, the year that VOWS got its start, we can make a number of parallels to what we're facing today in 2020. VOWS was founded, as we know, in the wake of the financial crisis. Then, as is now, jobs and financing across many sectors were difficult to get. There was a deep disconnect between the thousands of veterans equipped with the skills, experience and knowledge to compete and succeed and the opportunities available in the private sector. Over the last decade, this great organization has grown beyond New York to major cities across our country. It's helped thousands of veterans and members of military families navigate the tough transition to civilian life and careers. This year, with the pandemic, that transition has been even tougher for some of our member families in the veteran community, which is why we've extended our support not only to veterans and military families, but also to many adversely impacted communities. Today, we can speak credibly about being part of the solution, not the problem. Because when the crisis came, we were prepared. Not just in terms of tangibles, like capital and liquidity, but also mentally and culturally. We've responded decisively with agility, flexibility, teamwork and empathy. These leadership attributes are those that veterans know well and bring to the companies that they work for. When we talk about how the best companies are value- and mission-driven, we rarely acknowledge that our military forces are the original mission-driven organization. When I became CEO of Citi, one of my highest priorities was to build a culture that all our colleagues could be proud of. A critical component of that has been our work to recruit, retain and help veterans and service families become successful members of, and contributors to, our Citi family. In the spirit of VOWS' mission to share best practices across our member firms, I'll share a few examples of our approach. We support this mission through Citi Salutes, a veteran and military network of 16 chapters with 15 headquarters across the U.S. and 1 in the U.K. Citi Salutes provides over 2,000 military colleagues with a global platform and network for peer support. Outside of Citi, the program also engages local partners and community organizations that align with our efforts. The first pillar of that platform is recruitment and retention. One of the most powerful programs we've built is our 2-year military officer leadership program, which develops high potential veterans to lead in senior executive and management roles. We advanced participants through the ranks with rotational assignments, mentorships and immersion in their assigned function. And I've got to say that we've truly been impressed by how our graduates have performed and how proud we are of our pipeline. Our second pillar focus is on community engagement. One partnership that's top of mind because of a recent virtual conversation I had with its CEO is the national nonprofit NPower. Their mission is to help veterans and young adults from underserved communities launch careers in the digital economy. Out of our Dallas technology hub, we support NPower's Technology Service Corps, a paid apprenticeship program that helps veterans transfer their military experience and teach skills. Since 2012, over 300 NPower interns have joined Citi and since 2018, 39 veterans and their spouses have completed the program. Of the 74% of graduates who have received and accepted an offer to remain at our firm after the program, 90% are still with us. In Dallas, our Citi Salutes veterans volunteered over 2,400 hours to help build eco-friendly homes for female veterans. We named it Reed house, in honor of [ Greg Reed ], a Citi colleague who served in the Army as a crewchief for Blackhawk helicopters in the 101 Airborne and tragically passed away before the project was completed. Nationally, we partnered with the local initiative support corporation as an initiative called Bring Them Homes, which provides funding for housing for homeless and at-risk veterans. In recognition of our support to bring them homes, we earned a Community Commitment Award from the American Bankers Association Foundation. Just last week, we were named to Forbes' inaugural list of America's Best Employees for Veterans who rated their employers on the breadth and quality of their support. The third pillar of our program involves putting our capital and resources to work to support veteran-owned and operated businesses. One of our recent and most productive partnerships is with the service disabled veteran-owned institutional broker-dealer, Roberts & Ryan. We've included the firm on 6 big bond deals, and most notably, a landmark $2.5 billion social bond offering to fund affordable housing across the country with units reserved specifically for our veterans. Throughout this difficult year, we've also been inspired by the stories of our Citi veterans mobilizing to lend a helping hand in communities under stress. Philip Price, a Navy reserve employed at our Tampa site, is called to serve aboard the U.S. Naval hospital ship Comfort in New York Harbor as hospitals reach capacity. Another Tampa-based colleague, [ David Rivera ], was called to serve at the Orlando International Airport with the Florida Air National Guard, where he was assigned to screen and track incoming COVID cases. The efforts of Philip, [ David ] and many others of our Citi family, who's called back to duty exemplifies sacrifice and service, have our deepest appreciation. Before I turn it back over to Chris, I'd like to close on a note of general gratitude. What we've been able to do for our veterans and military families is only a small thank you in comparison to the service they've done for our country. As the son of a World War II veteran, who received multiple purple hearts, I'd also like to recognize the 75th anniversary this year of the Allied victory in the Second World War. I'm proud that for 8 years, I've led Citi. We've continued to be regarded among the members of this community as a firm where veterans and military families come not just for jobs, but to launch and to build careers. My father passed away at 93 last year, served in Company A of the 116th infantry of the United States Army. After landing on the beaches of Normandy at the age of 19, he fought bravely in the Battle of the Bulge and later on the Rhineland, as the Allied forces pressed deeper into Germany. After completing his service in college, my dad worked for a few firms before joining General Electric, where he spent a long-lasting 37 year career. That's the same number of years I'll have been at Citi when I retire in '21. In memory of my father and the millions of military veterans who serve and sacrifice for our country and its freedoms over the centuries, I've got to say that it's truly an honor, a pleasure and a privilege to host this event and support VOWS. From all of us at Citi, please stay safe, stay well, and I hope you enjoy the program today. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Mike. Deeply appreciate your leadership and your support over the years, and your touching remarks were incredible. Thank you.

Thank you.