Public Meeting Regarding Citicorp and Travelers Group
Friday, June 26, 1998
Transcript of Panel Eighteen
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Public Meeting Regarding Citicorp and Travelers Group |
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2 MR. LONEY: I have to adjust the
3 schedule a little bit. Our next group will be
4 comprised of a couple of folks scheduled from
5 panel 18, and one from panel 19. I would ask
6 Jerry Weber and Jane Canner, and Dr. Francois
7 de Cassagnol to come forward please.
8 MS. WEBER: I'd like to thank you for
9 inviting me here. I am working, and I am the
10 director of branch management for The New York
11 Association for new Americans which is the
12 largest resettlement agency, refugee
13 resettlement agency in the country basically.
14 We have a fifty-year history and we started off
15 with the resettlement of holocaust survivors
16 coming from Europe.
17 We have a really new relationship
18 with Citibank. It's approximately two years
19 old, and I must say that it's a good
20 relationship because it's a relationship backed
21 with commitment.
22 We resettle roughly anywhere between
23 ten and 15,000 people a year. Most of the
24 folks now coming from the former Soviet Union.
25 We also have settled folks from Vietnam, from
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2 Tibet, from Liberia, et cetera.
3 We also have a very large citizenship
4 program helping folks who become citizens and
5 provide legal assistance in that area. Most of
6 our costs are absorbed through foundations,
7 public and private support and some small fees
8 to cover costs that the INS has in fact asked
9 to be collected, so we do that.
10 We are located right down here in
11 Battery Place, but we work in four of the five
12 boroughs. The only borough we do not work in
13 at this moment is Staten Island.
14 What Citibank has offered us in terms
15 of commitment is two things. One is a vision
16 of a real commitment to work together to
17 revitalize the areas and to put some resources
18 into some parts of Brooklyn where we have a
19 large number of folks from the former Soviet
20 Union living, and that's a part of South
21 Brooklyn.
22 The other thing that Citibank has
23 done already, and Mr. McDonough from the Doe
24 Foundation talked about, you know lines of
25 credit and so on. They have been very good
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2 about that, and, in fact, have lowered some of
3 the costs to almost nil, so that we could move
4 money and work with money, because we do
5 provide assistance for the first four months
6 for our clients to keep them off public
7 assistance. So it's not only monetary
8 assistance from the philanthropic community but
9 we also work very hard to move clients into the
10 area of self-sufficiency, and, you know I just
11 need a very quick anecdote here, is that when I
12 deal with folks who come from the former Soviet
13 Union, a lot of them their first job is their
14 last job, and it's a whole different mind set
15 coming to this country. It is not your first
16 job is necessarily your last job. It's your
17 beginning.
18 But where Citibank has been extremely
19 helpful right now, we are working with them in
20 the micro enterprise program where we got some
21 OR grant to do some micro enterprise. They
22 have a member one of their vice presidents
23 sitting on our panel, they are providing
24 technical assistance for us and you know I very
25 quickly run that through.
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2 The other place they are is matching
3 up some of our creative folks with SBA loans
4 giving them technical assistance in how to do
5 that working through that with them and helping
6 them any way they can. Our clients come from
7 folks who have limited, limited, limited
8 education, not the folks who are computer
9 literate to the nth degree, but their whole
10 computer literacy is main frame, okay, so there
11 is a transaction there that goes on, I can't
12 get into the technical end, because you'll see
13 how computer illiterate I am.
14 MR. HODGETTS: I probably wouldn't
15 notice.
16 MS. WEBER: But that in fact is where
17 we can now nurture some of our people to start
18 as entrepreneurs into moving up the ladder of
19 success.
20 The other area that Citibank is
21 working with us on is the whole thing of
22 planning towards the future and working with us
23 to do some community revitalization, some
24 economic development, both from a housing point
25 of view and from a small business point of view
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2 so that that community becomes self sufficient
3 as a whole and becomes dependent upon itself to
4 survive and I think that's extremely important.
5 Lastly, their branch in Sheepshead
6 Bay has a number of folks who are bilingual,
7 trilingual, we'll name it, who have worked with
8 our folks in teaching them the banking system,
9 in helping them through that system, because
10 one of the things we've done, since we do cash
11 assistance in the first four months, is we have
12 used the ATM systems so that checks and money
13 do not move along, and they have been very
14 helpful in moving our clients through the steps
15 and educating them in the whole banking system.
16 So I thank you for your time.
17 MR. LONEY: We thank you.
18 Ms. Canner.
19 MS. CANNER: On behalf of Classroom
20 Inc., New York City nonprofit organization,
21 where I'm director of programs, I am pleased to
22 be here to support Citibank in the work
23 accomplished through their foundation to
24 improve communities across the country.
25 Classroom Inc., has a two-fold
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2 mission to engage students in productive
3 learning experiences that will help them in
4 their transition to the world beyond school and
5 to provide teachers with the tools and support
6 they need to enhance their effectiveness.
7 To accomplish our mission we create
8 computer-based simulations of real life
9 experiences for use by students in middle and
10 high schools and we provide ongoing
11 professional development opportunities and
12 support for educators participating in our
13 program.
14 Classroom Inc., is committed to
15 serving those young people who most need to
16 believe in a world beyond the school where they
17 can indeed achieve, and who sadly often have
18 the fewest resources available to them.
19 Participating students are afforded an
20 opportunity too seldom available to our
21 financially and socially disadvantaged
22 children, access to technology, and not mere
23 access, but constructive access through
24 effective software.
25 Through our relationship with
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2 Citibank we have been able to create
3 simulations and offer these learning tools to
4 thousands of teachers and students across the
5 country.
6 In 1994, Citibank provided support
7 for our first banking simulation Chelsea Bank
8 and subsequently fully funded the development
9 production of a financial services stimulation,
10 a course with a community bank which was
11 completed in 1996.
12 These banking simulations served to
13 bring students to a level of financial literacy
14 and to help them understand the role of the
15 bank in their community. They are introduced
16 to a variety of concepts such as profit and
17 loss, interest rate, credit worthiness,
18 mortgages and loans.
19 The simulations are also designed to
20 encourage these students to competency that I
21 have identified by the US Department of Labor
22 Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary
23 Skills or SCAN competencies, things such that
24 they will need in the world of work such as the
25 effective use of resources, the ability to work
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2 collaboratively with others and proficiency
3 with technology.
4 External resources that has been done
5 on our work today and on the simulations
6 provides evidence that they are effective.
7 Indiana University has been studying students
8 use of the Chelsea Bank, and has found that
9 students using it are effectively in the SCAN
10 skills, and the case studies show that the
11 students have learned about banking customers
12 and awareness of the world of work.
13 At another more recent research study
14 at the University of Pittsburgh Learning
15 Research and Development Center has been
16 studying our financial services simulation
17 because we're a community bank and they have
18 reported that it's one of the best simulations
19 available to use in schools to work programs in
20 schools, and that it provides many
21 opportunities for the students to learn and use
22 a variety of SCAN skills and our own internal
23 research has corroborated this.
24 Citibank and the Citicorp Foundation
25 have helped us position our simulations in a
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2 variety of school districts across the country.
3 With Citibank taking the lead, we have been
4 introduced into school districts of Las Vegas,
5 Nevada and Sioux Falls, South Dakota where we
6 are serving hundreds of middle and high stool
7 students.
8 We began our work in Sioux Falls in
9 1997 and are expanding it there this year and
10 in Sioux Falls our work has now been embraced
11 at the state level, and with Citibank's support
12 we would hope to be expanding there.
13 We have also begun to look at
14 partnerships in the States of Florida and
15 Georgia where Citibank is an active community
16 member. In addition, our simulations are used
17 in areas where Citibank is not our primary
18 partner, such as in New York City, Philadelphia
19 the State of West Virginia, Houston and other
20 places across the country.
21 We deeply value our relationship with
22 Citibank and Citicorp Citibank leaders share
23 our goal for improving teaching and learning in
24 schools so that students may look forward to a
25 stable and productive future.
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2 We have confidence that Citibank will
3 continue to play an important role as a
4 community development financial leader and that
5 its support will continue as a corporate value
6 after the proposed merger.
7 Thank you.
8 MR. LONEY: Did I understand you to
9 say Citibank is not your primary partner in New
10 York City? Is that what you said?
11 MS. CANNER: No, I'm sorry, I said
12 they have been the lead role for bringing us
13 into Sioux Falls and Las Vegas. They help us
14 produce the simulations which are in widespread
15 use in New York City.
16 MR. LONEY: Dr. de Cassagnol.
17 DR. de CASSAGNOL: Thank you. I have
18 provided some information for you all.
19 I am Dr. Cassagnol. I'm the founder
20 and chairman of Dr. Cassagnol Cyber Banking
21 Group, and Dr. Cassagnol Foundation. Certified
22 minority fully centered by the state and some
23 of the government. Dr. Cassagnol Foundation is
24 non-profit, tax exempt, and I have to make it
25 very clear that we do not seek the contribution
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2 of organization or contribution from anybody,
3 that we doing everything by ourself. And what
4 I would like to see, make it very clear that I
5 support the merger.
6 I had a long talk with Matthew Lee
7 yesterday. I tried to convince him to give me
8 his blessings, and he had done that. I could
9 not convince him to wear the Travelers logo,
10 but he understands and knows our procedure and
11 the message we send to these people.
12 We want to pay for the communities
13 and some of them do it in a different way. In
14 my role as a community person, Matthew Lee is
15 my neighbor and friend, and I'm very happy that
16 he understands my position that I support the
17 merger. He tried to convince me to not to say
18 that I support Citicorp, because for some
19 reason he doesn't care that much for Citicorp.
20 (Laughter)
21 And I don't know why, but, anyhow, I
22 told him I support Travelers because I had a
23 lot of good contact with Travelers. I have sat
24 with them, and they have pledged that they work
25 together with me. With all fairness to
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2 Citicorp, I have never tried to get in contact
3 with Citicorp, because of the reason that I
4 have had a lot of contact with other banks and
5 I have gone nowhere with them, so I try to save
6 them the aggravation by not being in contact
7 with them.
8 The Travelers, I have presented a
9 huge project to them. This is one of the
10 projects to, the vice-president in charge of
11 property casualty, and that project
12 incorporates the development of the cyber
13 village. In the cyber village we have
14 everything in it from cyber university on line,
15 a greeting cards, everything you can find,
16 cyber view, cyber banking, everything you can
17 find in a village, but electronically.
18 I have presented a huge package like
19 that to them, and we have set up the mechanics
20 to start working together. One of the promise
21 I had to make to Matthew Lee yesterday that if
22 for any reason that Travelers decided not to
23 work together with me, to give him a call, and
24 we'll get our volunteers and go to the
25 building.
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2 I do not plan to do that because
3 Travelers seems to be, you know, very receptive
4 to me, to my organization and I plan to work
5 together with them, and in that way I support
6 Citicorp.
7 This is the 21st century project and
8 I totally believe we have to spend a lot of
9 time and money in developing that project.
10 This is the 21st century project, and this is
11 another opportunity for an organization like
12 the Travelers to work together, to create the
13 kind of economic development that probably will
14 not find people like myself to work with.
15 This is a unique experience, and what
16 I would like to happen is to work with me and
17 create about two thousand jobs, you know, for
18 the next five, ten years, and I strongly
19 believe that we can do it, because I only use
20 commercial hack library and that hack library
21 can be converted to an unlimited amount of
22 products, and all we have to do is have people
23 working together with us to help people like
24 the people of my Inner City, to make them a
25 little bit happier, because the frustration and
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2 aggravation with them is people are not
3 listening.
4 And as you can see the way they take
5 all the umbrellas yesterday was to catch the
6 attention of people really making the decision.
7 Again, that I want to make it very clear that I
8 support the merger. Based on my talk with
9 Matthew Lee yesterday, I don't think because of
10 me, I don't think he will want me to deal in my
11 project, and not create the jobs that was
12 promised to create in the Bronx, so he supports
13 me and I will ask the Fed in their
14 consideration not to deny the merger, to give
15 Travelers and Citibank an opportunity to people
16 like myself, and create the kind of
17 opportunities that people like Inner City are
18 looking for.
19 And, again, I'm extremely happy to
20 support the merger. And then I hope that
21 anything I can do to help to support those
22 activities to prevent any delays, because I do
23 understand people like myself create a lot of
24 aggravation for some of those people with
25 Matthew Lee, and I do not want that to happen,
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2 the same thing that happened with the state
3 merger.
4 We just want to go on and start doing
5 the work that we need for the community. Thank
6 you.
7 MR. LONEY: Thank you. Any questions
8 of these folks?
9 MR. ALVAREZ: I have a question for
10 Mr. Weber. In dealing with immigrants -- in
11 fact, any of the three may want to answer -- do
12 you deal with a bunch of immigrants in
13 particular that come from cash based economies,
14 and they're coming here and beginning to
15 navigate around the financial system in the
16 United States, the bank-serving economy, is
17 there much resistance or difficulty in folks
18 getting adjusted to a different kind of system?
19 MS. WEBER: Yes, especially at the
20 beginning. One of the issues is trust of the
21 institution. They come from a place where very
22 honestly without a cash economy they don't
23 survive. That's the way they've done business.
24 That's the way they've done business for
25 generations, and it's something that we have to
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2 work with, and explain and we do a whole thing
3 on acculturation, and part of that is to move
4 along and to teach people gradually the system
5 and how it works for them, and that they can
6 trust the system.
7 And, remember, you got folks who came
8 off the plane. You know, years ago you'd come
9 off the boat. But now you got folks coming off
10 the plane with the same fears. They don't know
11 how to get from the airport to where they're
12 going, and they don't know how to get on the R
13 or the N. So, you know, we start at that
14 point. We meet them at the airport.
15 And, you know, I would say two months
16 of or three months of trauma, you know,
17 depression. You know, they've left an
18 environment they're very comfortable with.
19 Many of them have been forced to leave and
20 they're coming here.
21 Now, it's a little better there
22 because there are relatives here now that take
23 them in, but it takes a lot of getting used to.
24 And, you know, if you come to our offices from
25 the first to the fourth month you will see it
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2 in the dress, how they dress when they first
3 come here and how they slowly become Americans
4 in their dress and some of their gestures even
5 within that short period of time, but, yes, it
6 is an issue.
7 MR. HODGETTS: I have a question of
8 Dr. Cassagnol. You believe that the merger
9 will result in increased community development
10 activity in the South Bronx?
11 DR. de CASSAGNOL: The only way the
12 merger can resolve in increased economic
13 activities in the Bronx is for people like the
14 Travelers and Citicorp to work with people like
15 myself.
16 MR. HODGETTS: More than they do
17 today?
18 DR. de CASSAGNOL: Well, I don't
19 want, I look at Travelers as a friend, and I do
20 not want to say anything to challenge them or
21 to challenge Citicorp, but what I would like to
22 see or what people like Matthew Lee and other
23 community activists would like to see, is for
24 us to get involved in creating things for
25 ourself creating jobs.
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2 We do not need $5,000, you know,
3 contribution a year for the community. We
4 don't need that. We need to create the
5 mechanism to develop jobs in the community and
6 people like myself can be a link between these
7 people and Travelers or Citibank, but it is, as
8 I indicated in some of my writings, it is
9 impossible to be in a community like New York
10 City, almost 57 percent minorities and not
11 doing anything for this group, and saying that
12 we're doing something for the community.
13 You don't have to be a rocket
14 scientist to understand that. You cannot
15 increase community activities by not getting
16 people like myself and other people get
17 involved in creating those jobs.
18 I have a huge amount of resources
19 that I can help creating those jobs. It has
20 been impossible for some of the banks to work
21 together with me for one reason or the other.
22 They will say, well, these affairs, you know,
23 we cannot do this, we cannot do that, and we
24 are hurting people. Like these people
25 yesterday with the red umbrellas, they are
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2 hurting. Their aggravation is to trying to
3 catch people's attention and I think in my
4 position the resources that we have we can
5 create that link between them and Travelers.
6 If Travelers work with me, continue
7 working, because it pays to work with me, with
8 all fairness to Citicorp, I have never get in
9 contact with them, so I cannot give, but if
10 they put their heads together, work together
11 with me, I have provided information to
12 Citicorp people, some of the vice presidents --
13 Ms. Pamela is here? She is there.
14 I provided information to her. I
15 provided information to them. I provided thick
16 package like that to the Travelers' people.
17 All they have to do is find the mechanism to
18 work together with me and create those jobs and
19 we can only develop an activity, but it is not
20 going to happen if you don't work with people
21 like myself, it's not going to happen.
22 It's just like a dream, and that will
23 have to be fulfilled myself or people like
24 myself.
25 MR. HODGETTS: Thank you.
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