BASIS OF PRESENTATION, UPDATED ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND ACCOUNTING CHANGES (Policies)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2021

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and Accounting Changes

SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

See Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements in Citigroup’s 2020 Annual Report on Form 10-K for a summary of all of Citigroup’s significant accounting policies.

ACCOUNTING CHANGES

Accounting for Financial Instruments—Credit Losses

Overview

In June 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued ASU No. 2016-13, Financial Instruments—Credit Losses (Topic 326). The ASU introduced a new credit loss methodology, the current expected credit losses (CECL) methodology, which requires earlier recognition of credit losses while also providing additional disclosure about credit risk. Citi adopted the ASU as of January 1, 2020, which, as discussed below, resulted in an increase in Citi’s Allowance for credit losses and a decrease to opening Retained earnings, net of deferred income taxes, at January 1, 2020.

The CECL methodology utilizes a lifetime “expected credit loss” measurement objective for the recognition of credit losses for loans, held-to-maturity debt securities, receivables and other financial assets measured at amortized cost at the time the financial asset is originated or acquired. The ACL is adjusted each period for changes in expected lifetime credit losses. The CECL methodology represents a significant change from prior U.S. GAAP and replaced the prior multiple existing impairment methods, which generally required that a loss be incurred before it was recognized. Within the life cycle of a loan or other financial asset, the methodology generally results in the earlier recognition of the provision for credit losses and the related ACL than prior U.S. GAAP. For available-for-sale debt securities where fair value is less than cost that Citi intends to hold or more-likely-than-not will not be required to sell, credit-related impairment, if any, is recognized through an ACL and adjusted each period for changes in credit risk.

January 1, 2020 CECL Transition (Day 1) Impact

The CECL methodology’s impact on expected credit losses, among other things, reflects Citi’s view of the current state of the economy, forecasted macroeconomic conditions and Citi’s portfolios. At the January 1, 2020 date of adoption, based on forecasts of macroeconomic conditions and exposures at that time, the aggregate impact to Citi was an approximate $4.1 billion, or an approximate 29%, pretax increase in the Allowance for credit losses, along with a $3.1 billion after-tax decrease in Retained earnings and a deferred tax asset increase of $1.0 billion. This transition impact reflects (i) a $4.9 billion build to the Allowance for credit losses for Citi’s consumer exposures, primarily driven by the impact on credit card receivables of longer estimated tenors under the CECL lifetime expected credit loss methodology (loss coverage of approximately 23 months) compared to shorter estimated tenors under the probable loss methodology under prior U.S. GAAP (loss coverage of approximately 14 months), net of recoveries; and (ii) a release of $0.8 billion of reserves primarily related to Citi’s corporate net loan loss exposures, largely due to more precise contractual maturities that result in shorter remaining tenors, incorporation of recoveries and use

of more specific historical loss data based on an increase in portfolio segmentation across industries and geographies.

Under the CECL methodology, the Allowance for credit losses consists of quantitative and qualitative components. Citi’s quantitative component of the Allowance for credit losses is model based and utilizes a single forward-looking macroeconomic forecast, complemented by the qualitative component described below, in estimating expected credit losses and discounts inputs for the corporate classifiably managed portfolios. Reasonable and supportable forecast periods vary by product. For example, Citi’s consumer models use a 13-quarter reasonable and supportable period and revert to historical loss experience thereafter, while its corporate loan models use a nine-quarter reasonable and supportable period followed by a three-quarter graduated transition to historical loss experience.

Citi’s qualitative component of the Allowance for credit losses considers (i) the uncertainty of forward-looking scenarios based on the likelihood and severity of a possible recession as another possible scenario; (ii) certain portfolio characteristics, such as portfolio concentration and collateral coverage; and (iii) model limitations as well as idiosyncratic events. Citi calculates a judgmental management adjustment, which is an alternative, more adverse scenario that only considers downside risk.

Accounting for Variable Post-Charge-Off Third-Party Collection Costs

In the fourth quarter of 2020, Citi revised the 2020 second quarter accounting conclusion for its variable post-charge-off third-party collection costs from a “change in accounting estimate effected by a change in accounting principle” to a “change in accounting principle,” which required an adjustment to January 1, 2020 opening retained earnings, rather than 2020 net income. As a result, Citi’s full-year and quarterly results for 2020 were revised to reflect this change as if it were effective as of January 1, 2020, as follows:

•An increase to beginning retained earnings on January 1, 2020 of $330 million and a decrease of $443 million in the allowance for credit losses on loans, as well as a $113 million decrease in other assets related to income taxes.

•A decrease of $18 million to provisions for credit losses on loans in the first quarter and increases of $339 million and $122 million to provisions for credit losses on loans in the second and third quarters, respectively.

•Increases in operating expenses of $49 million and $45 million with a corresponding decrease in net credit losses, in the first and second quarters, respectively.

In making these revisions, Citi considered the guidance in ASC Topic 250, Accounting Changes and Error Corrections; ASC Topic 270, Interim Reporting; ASC Topic 250-S99-1, Assessing Materiality; and ASC Topic 250-S99-23, Accounting Changes Not Retroactively Applied Due to Immateriality, Considering the Effects of Prior Year Misstatements when Quantifying Misstatements in Current Year Financial Statements. Citi believes that the effects of the

revisions were not material to any previously reported quarterly or annual period.

Reference Rate Reform

In March 2020, the FASB issued ASU No. 2020-04, Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting, which provides optional guidance to ease the potential burden in accounting for (or recognizing the effects of) reference rate reform on financial reporting. Specifically, the guidance permits an entity, when certain criteria are met, to consider amendments to contracts made to comply with reference rate reform to meet the definition of a modification under U.S. GAAP. It further allows hedge accounting to be maintained and permits a one-time transfer or sale of qualifying held-to-maturity securities. The expedients and exceptions provided by the amendments are permitted to be adopted any time through December 31, 2022 and do not apply to contract modifications made and hedging relationships entered into or evaluated after December 31, 2022, except for certain optional expedients elected for certain hedging relationships existing as of December 31, 2022. The ASU was adopted by Citi as of June 30, 2020 with prospective application and did not impact financial results in 2020.

In January 2021, the FASB issued ASU No. 2021-01, Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Scope, which clarifies that the scope of the initial accounting relief issued by the FASB in March 2020 includes derivative instruments that do not reference a rate that is expected to be discontinued but that use an interest rate for margining, discounting or contract price alignment that is modified as a result of reference rate reform (commonly referred to as the “discounting transition”). The amendments do not apply to contract modifications made after December 31, 2022, new hedging relationships entered into after December 31, 2022 and existing hedging relationships evaluated for effectiveness in periods after December 31, 2022, except for hedging relationships existing as of December 31, 2022, that apply certain optional expedients in which the accounting effects are recorded through the end of the hedging relationship. The ASU was adopted by Citi on a full retrospective basis upon issuance and did not impact financial results in 2020.

FUTURE ACCOUNTING CHANGES

Long-Duration Insurance Contracts

In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-12, Financial Services—Insurance: Targeted Improvements to the Accounting for Long-Duration Contracts, which changes the existing recognition, measurement, presentation and disclosures for long-duration contracts issued by an insurance entity. Specifically, the guidance (i) improves the timeliness of recognizing changes in the liability for future policy benefits and prescribes the rate used to discount future cash flows for long-duration insurance contracts, (ii) simplifies and improves the accounting for certain market-based options or guarantees associated with deposit (or account balance) contracts, (iii) simplifies the amortization of deferred acquisition costs and (iv) introduces additional quantitative and qualitative disclosures. Citi has certain insurance subsidiaries, primarily in Mexico, that issue long-duration insurance contracts that will be impacted by the requirements of ASU 2018-12.

The effective date of ASU 2018-12 was deferred for all insurance entities by ASU 2019-09, Finance Services—Insurance: Effective Date (issued in October 2019) and by ASU 2020-11, Financial Services—Insurance: Effective Date and Early Application (issued November 2020). Citi plans to adopt the targeted improvements in ASU 2018-12 on January 1, 2023 and is currently evaluating the impact of the standard on its insurance subsidiaries. Citi does not expect a material impact to its results of operations as a result of adopting the standard.