Public Meeting Regarding Citicorp and Travelers Group Friday, June 26, 1998 Transcript of Panel Nineteen

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   2               MR. LONEY:  Thank you very much.

   3               I understand from panel 19 scheduled

   4     for 9 o'clock we have Robert Sanchez, Carmelo

   5     Loran and Truda Cleeves Jewett.  Would you come

   6     up, please.

   7               MR. LONEY:  Mr. Sanchez, will you

   8     begin with the panel, please?

   9               MR. SANCHEZ:  I'm Robert Sanchez and

  10     I own United Business Forms, we're printers in

  11     Long Island City.  I'm also vice-chairman of

  12     the National Hispanic Business Group.

  13               Now, part of our mission at the

  14     National Hispanic Business Group is we seek to

  15     expand opportunities to our members by

  16     fostering a dialogue in economic exchanges with

  17     corporate America, about a year ago we reached

  18     out to the Travelers Group, and found them

  19     very, very accommodating.  They met with us.

  20     As a matter of fact, they nominated someone

  21     from our Hispanic Corporate Achiever Award and

  22     then they, most importantly, facilitated a

  23     luncheon meeting with an executive from their

  24     purchasing department with some of our

  25     executive committee members.



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   2               So the point of my testimony this

   3     morning was that we found the Travelers Group

   4     to be on the right page as far as fostering

   5     economic development in the Hispanic community.

   6     The national Hispanic business group feels all

   7     we need is an opportunity to open the door a

   8     little bit and we'll do our job and get

   9     business in corporate America.

  10               That's the basis of my testimony this

  11     morning.

  12               MR. LONEY:  Thank you Mr. Sanchez.

  13     Mr. Loran.

  14               MS. LORAN:  Thank you.  Good morning.

  15     I represent the Occupation Training

  16     Institution.  We are a non-profit organization

  17     based in the Bronx.  We provide vocational and

  18     educational training to adults and youth,

  19     specifically youths from the Bronx where I

  20     live.

  21               The reason I'm here today is to

  22     really testify in favor of the merger between

  23     Travelers group and Citicorp.  We've been

  24     involved with Citicorp in expanding our

  25     operation.  The Citicorp services our parent



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   2     company, and two years ago became its own

   3     entity to the division and the entrepreneurship

   4     of the executive director and the board of ESS.

   5               We identify Citicorp Bank as one of

   6     our bankers to be able to help us expand our

   7     program.  Due to the fact that we provide

   8     vocation training in the auto mechanic field

   9     which is a very diverse field, and a very

  10     lucrative field for those individuals who have

  11     a mechanical aptitude.

  12               Citibank through its effort to the

  13     Community Revitalization Act came to us and

  14     provided us with assistance to assist us in how

  15     best to serve our need, and reinforce our

  16     philosophy of strengthening the community.

  17               As some of our panelists have spoken

  18     in the past in terms of revitalizing the

  19     community, I think Citibank has a sensitivity

  20     that needs to be, I think, recognized here

  21     today that they help in strengthening the

  22     infrastructure.  How can a bank or any other

  23     entity provide services if individuals are

  24     unemployed?

  25               They see that as a first step in



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   2     trying to provide help to the community.  We

   3     provide the vocational training and the job

   4     placement.  Then the Citibank helps them of

   5     course with the banking services of course and

   6     maybe they are now available to take out loans.

   7               Citibank has been working with me to

   8     provide us help with the business plan and

   9     other areas.  We are in a 24 month process to

  10     purchase city land and build a structure

  11     multicertification in academic training within

  12     the central Bronx, which is the industrial

  13     park.  Right now we're located in the annex

  14     area and we are also expanding part of the

  15     operations into the Hub and 129th Street.

  16               I know questions were asked of one

  17     other panelist.  I will say that Citibank has

  18     been sensitive to the community needs

  19     specifically in the Bronx.  We provide services

  20     to residents in all five boroughs.  I look

  21     forward to working with Citibank.  I have not

  22     worked with Travelers Group, but I know in the

  23     marriage between Citigroup and Travelers if

  24     Citigroup educates Travelers in some of the

  25     needs to the community and be more sensitive to



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   2     the need I believe that the merger will help

   3     not only these businesses, but also the

   4     community.  Thank you very much.

   5               MR. LONEY:  Yes, Ms. Jewett.

   6               MS. JEWETT:  Thank you.  Thank you

   7     for asking me to testify today.  I am Truda

   8     Jewett, the assistant executive director of the

   9     Childrens Aid Society here in New York City.

  10               Childrens Aid is one of the oldest

  11     and largest social service agency in this city.

  12     It's been here for 145 years.  It serves more

  13     than 120,000 children and their families each

  14     year with a budget of about $45 million this

  15     year.

  16               We could not survive without

  17     government help, without individual help,

  18     without corporate and foundation help.  We've

  19     been fortunate, I think in that we've had the

  20     good fortune to be involved in what is now all

  21     the Travelers Group.  We've had less, really

  22     less involvement with Citicorp, but between

  23     Travelers starting with Primerica, Salomon,

  24     Smith Barney and Citicorp, I think in the last

  25     few years those organizations have contributed



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   2     more than $500,000 to Childrens Aid Society.

   3               That money had gone specifically for

   4     child care and for education.  Interesting, all

   5     of them have been particularly interested in

   6     these two very important issues here in the

   7     city.

   8               Perhaps as important, if not even

   9     more important than the financial support is

  10     the leadership that this represents, and by

  11     that I mean physically the leadership from

  12     Mr. Weil and his wife, Mr. Diamond and his

  13     wife, Mr. Denim from Salomon and his wife, and

  14     Mr. Coleman and his wife from Smith Barney.

  15               Between those individuals, their

  16     friends and employees, they have contributed

  17     more than $1.5 million in the last two years to

  18     the Childrens Aid Society.

  19               This leadership by example I think is

  20     something that's very important in the

  21     community, and while we haven't had the close

  22     involvement with Citicorp, I can only hope that

  23     that would increase with this merger so that I

  24     support it.

  25               MR. LONEY:  Thank you, Ms. Jewett.



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   2     Do we have any questions of this panel?

   3               MR. HODGETTS:  Mr. Loran, does

   4     Citibank have a lending or investment

   5     relationship with your organization or with

   6     your graduates?

   7               MS. LORAN:  The parent agency that's

   8     referred to currently has their business bank,

   9     business account with Citibank, and we haven't

  10     reached the next level because of the fact that

  11     as I said before, we've just begun the creating

  12     of OCI, and we're looking more into eventually

  13     in trying to receive more funding.

  14               What I hope to do is we are in

  15     October of this year starting a program for

  16     youth in the Bronx, and to incorporate banking

  17     and budgeting, that hopefully the Citibank will

  18     help us in terms of that.  Thank you.

  19               MR. HODGETTS:  Thank you.

  20               MR. LONEY:  Are there any other

  21     questions?  If not, I will thank the panel for

  22     coming.