FACTBOX: Facts on Citibank in Germany, sold to Credit Mutuel

(Reuters) - Citigroup (C.N) is selling its German retail business Citibank to France's Credit Mutuel for more than $8 billion, the United States' biggest bank announced on Friday.

Following are some facts about Credit Mutuel's new purchase.

HISTORY OF CITIBANK

Citibank's roots in Germany go back to 1926, when banker Walter Kaminsky founded KundenKredit GmbH in the city of Koenigsberg, now Kaliningrad. Nine years later the company was renamed Kundenkreditbank (KKB) with its headquarters in Duesseldorf, home of today's Citibank. In 1989, Citibank of New York bought KKB and renamed it Citibank Privatkunden AG.

Citibank has 340 branches in Germany and employs 6,800 staff, serving 3.25 million customers.

BUSINESS AREAS

Citibank is one of the leaders in consumer credit in Germany, with a market share of 7 percent. Citibank is also active in wealth management and credit cards, but like other lenders has had to contend with declining earnings in Germany's fiercely competitive retail banking market.

EARNINGS

Citibank made net profit of 365 million euros in 2007, 16 percent below the year-earlier level. Net interest income, its main source of revenue, fell 9 percent to 1.06 billion euros. Citibank's cost-income ratio was 49.9 percent, above the 45.5 percent seen in 2006, but still well below that of many domestic rivals.

(Reporting by Patricia Nann, Writing by Jonathan Gould; editing by Sue Thomas)