Citigroup’s ‘Capital’ Was All Casing, No Meat

Bloomberg.com, 24 Nov 2008, Jonathan Weil

Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Over and over, as its stock price plunged last week, Citigroup Inc. repeated the same tired line. Citigroup has “very strong capital,” the bank kept saying.

Its capital was so strong that the New York-based lender yesterday was ironing out yet another federal bailout. One lesson here is: There’s something very wrong with the way Citigroup and the government measure capital.

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