Citibank (NYSE: C) Reaffirms Commitment to Sioux Falls, SD as Credit Card and Student Loan Hub

“We’re here, and we’re committed to Sioux Falls,” said Vikram Pandit, Citibank’s (NYSE: C) chief executive officer during a visit to Sioux Falls, SD for a visit with community partners and Citibank employees.

With recent and pending congressional reforms that will bring major changes to the credit card and student loan industries, many have wondered whether or not there would be shake-ups in Citibank’s Sioux Falls operations which would result in lost jobs for the city.

Pandit dismissed suggestions about any major changes to Citibank’s Sioux Falls operations. Currently, Citibank has over 3,000 employees in Sioux Falls that are spread into 28 divisions, including Citibank’s student loan processing and credit card operations. “We’re not planning any major changes here,” Pandit said.

Citibank has also been working with community redevelopment efforts in an economically impoverished area of the city referred to as “Pettigrew Heights”, which is one of the poorest neighborhoods in South Dakota.

Citibank provided for a $5 million line of credit for neighborhood improvement projects in Pettigrew Heights in 2006 to revitalize and stabilize a 60 block area near Sioux Falls’ downtown. The project aims to create community resource centers and develop affordable and safe housing options.

Mike Cooper, Sioux Falls’ directory of planning and building services, gave a PowerPoint presentation at the meeting highlighting the progress made in the Pettigrew Heights neighborhood. Cooper said, “The big thing that really started to make a change was when we received a Citibank line of credit for $5 million that we were able to use to go out and acquire property.”

The initial efforts using the $5 million line of credit that Citibank provided was used to develop a housing resource center to prove a one-stop-shop for homeowners, renters, landlords and real estate developers in the area. Another $100,000 went toward clearing properties where a 57-unit affordable housing facility for the elderly is going to be built.

Citibank also announced on Monday that Citibank and the Citi Foundation are providing $280,000 in grants to non-profits that offer services to Native Americans in the state in hopes of demonstrating the company’s commitment to South Dakota. The grants will be used to pay for teachers at the Rosebud and Pine Ridge reservations and provide scholarships for Native American students to South Dakota’s three tribal colleges. Grant money will also be used to provide community education for Native Americans in topics such as small business book keeping, financial literacy, homebuyer education and small business planning.

Pandit was interviewed by Sioux Falls’ local paper, and commented, “We’ve been here a long time, since 1981, and it’s been a great part of Citi. We’re not only here because of the business, but we’re part of the community… We like being here, we like the people we have and that’s going to continue.”