For professionals in areas such as finance, law, consultancy and more, their wealth needs and those of their businesses can be very specific. Tying all these strands into a coherent package explains the US bank's "Wealth at Work" business area. FWR recently spoke to Citigroup, which also has announced its second-quarter financial results.

When it comes to business segmentation, beyond the simple metrics of minimum investments or deposit size, there are other ways to reach specific clients.

Already, several banks will, for example, pitch their offerings at sportsmen and women, entertainers and media figures – as covered in this article. Perhaps with less razzmatazz, however, are those segments that concentrate on people earning a living in law, asset management, consultancy, accountancy, executive recruitment, life sciences and biotech, industrial leadership, and other senior figures in areas such as technology and venture capital.  

Such individuals tend to work long hours and want to make the most of their leisure time with their families and friends. Personal and professional financial needs eat into that time – which is where a bank such as Citigroup comes in.

The Law Firm Group, part of Citi Wealth, was established 56 years ago, serving those working in law firms as they built careers, and as they went through significant financial events, such as becoming a partner, having to recruit talent, handling succession planning, selling a firm, etc.

In 2021, Citigroup expanded its efforts in this sphere, creating the Wealth at Work group. This covers professional services, such as consulting and accountancy in addition to asset managers and entrepreneurs.

“They are busy individuals and super-ambitious. They have their individual lives too. They want someone to partner with,” Kristen Bitterly, head of Citi Global Wealth at Work, told Family Wealth Report.

This news service recently met Bitterly at the bank’s offices in Manhattan. 

“We always lead with planning…the connection is about getting to know clients, their balance sheet, their goals and when they want to retire. This is not something that can be done by machines,” she said. 

“In our model, within Wealth, we have an area called `integrated client engagement’, which focuses on enhancing the partnership between the banking, markets and wealth businesses – all to deliver cohesive advice and solutions to Citi’s clients while also driving incremental commercial opportunity through the collaboration,” Bitterly said. 

Bitterly said asset managers and their staff are an important source of future clients.

“We see opportunities in the asset management space because of all the relationships we have there already at Citi,” she said. 

“We naturally become involved in the needs of a business. In our Law Firm Advisory Services area, we do surveys with many of the American Law 200 firms to measure firms’ profitability, demand, inventory levels etc, on a periodic basis – both on a national and regional level. This is important leading industry research – it helps firms make strategic decisions and this is something that we are very well known for,” she continued. 

As an example, in late December 2024, Citi Global Wealth at Work issued the 33-page 2025 Citi Hildebrandt Client Advisory, which discussed the forces driving demand for lawyers’ services, and delved into the impact of AI. The report noted that in the first nine months of 2025, law firms’ revenue grew 11.9 per cent versus the first nine months of 2024. A critical factor in this growth was the 3.2 per cent rise in demand.

Whether it is law firms, accountants, consultants, asset and wealth managers, the employees of these organizations require financial planning help. In their own businesses, such persons need help with lending, revenue generation, and investment.

The trend of firms taking longer to list on the stock market, along with those de-listing, has changed the ways in which staff are rewarded and incentivized – and wealth managers must keep up with that change. “Many employees feel overwhelmed with the choices they have,” Bitterly said.

What the Wealth at Work model does is speak to how large, integrated banks stress the value of their size.

The corporate/commercial side of Citigroup also feeds into the private banking/wealth side; these parts of the bank come to the wealth business seeking wealth management solutions for companies’ employees and teams, Bitterly said. 

“These [services] are talent retention tools…firms want their people to focus on their highest priorities. You almost need that 'nudge’, and this is about how are we nudging people to get outcomes,” she said. 

It appears that the Wealth at Work business is delivering for Citigroup’s bottom line. In its second-quarter earnings, the bank said that Wealth revenues of $2.2 billion increased 20 per cent, with Wealth at Work, alongside Citigold and the Private Bank, making an impact. Wealth at Work revenues, at $221 million, rose 13 per cent on a year before.

Talent
Talk of talent led FWR to ask Bitterly about Citigroup’s approach to building capabilities.

“We grow a lot of our own talent,” she said. There is a mix of financial capability and experience in client-facing roles, she said.

With the business-to-business model at Citigroup, subject-matter expertise, such as a specific firm that a client might work in, can be learned. “We have a business model where you already have good connections and data,” she said.

Technology, for example, will give Citi more scale and reach for anticipating and serving client needs. 

“We see opportunities in the asset management space because of all the relationships we have there already at Citi.”

Another trend is the requirements of employees etc at firms that are staying private for longer prior to IPO, or de-listing, etc. “Many employees feel overwhelmed with the choices they have.”