Citi Plans $400 Billion in Asset Sales

Updated from 9:39 a.m. EDT

CitigroupC plans to shed up to $400 billion in additional businesses, as CEO Vikram Pandit continues his shakeup of the troubled bank.

At Citi's Investor/Analyst Day in New York Friday, Pandit was expected to say he doesn't plan on breaking up the behemoth bank, as some have called for, but will instead focus on paring non-core assets to lower costs and boost flagging profits.

The asset sales could take years and some assets may never be sold, the paper said.

Citi already has begun shedding assets. Earlier this month, the bank and partner State StreetSTT sold employee benefits joint venture CitiStreet to INGING for $900 million.

Pandit has suggested since he assumed the bank's top post in December that he would look at asset sales and he has followed through in recent weeks with a management reshuffle to refocus the bank's leaders on its core business.

It all comes as the bank has been one of the hardest-hit Wall Street institutions during the credit crunch that has gripped markets since last summer. Citi in April reported a $5.1 billion first-quarter loss and $12 billion in writedowns of securities tied to shaky debt.

The bank also has raised more than $40 billion through sales of common and preferred stock and slashed its dividend to preserve capital. Washington MutualWM, Wachovia BankWB and National CityNCC have also raised capital after posting first-quarter losses.

Rivals WachoviaWB, Merrill LynchMER and UBSUBS have also reported huge losses and writedowns in the quarter.

Shares of Citigroup were recently trading at $24.07, down 3 cents on the day.