Citi-UK Club

Citi-UK Club

Chairman's report for year ending July 2004

"As most will know, we formed this club last year and had our first meeting in October 2003.
The original intention was to replace the Pensioner's party and meeting with the Pension Plan Management, (which the bank decided to cancel), with a socially oriented club. The Bank sent out a letter on our behalf to about a third of their Citi-UK pensioner's database, approximately 600 persons. Of those 600 letters, some 200 replied, of which 110 have become Citi-UK Club members, with further ex-Citibankers joining at a slow but steady rate.
At our inaugural meeting last October a number of questions/ issues were raised from the floor. Many of these
related to pension matters, which I believe were caused by the reports in both the press and TV about Pension Funds which were experiencing difficulties. These concerns, (added to the bank's decision to cancel the annual party), made a number of people worried about our own Pension Fund. The feeling of the meeting was that the Club should approach the bank and ask if we could work with them and interface between the two parties. Mike Kirkwood responded to a letter from me in which he said that there were a variety of schemes in operation (as a result of mergers and acquisitions) and that the Bank had decided to appoint Jardine Lloyd Thompson to manage the funds and to deal questions from individual members, across all the various Citigroup plans.
The Club Committee discussed this response and as a body took the decision not to challenge this reply. Obviously JLT would not discuss an individual's private issues with the Club, and the Club committee is in no way an 'expert' in Pension matters.
We are, however, still prepared to try and assist the Bank and the Club's members if we can.
On one issue particularly, e.g. the Almoner role previously taken on by Pam Ewin. This is something we can discuss at the forthcoming AGM, especially if there is support for it from the floor.
At the AGM we shall be looking for nominations for the Club Committee. All members are entitled to nominate themselves for any of the jobs mentioned in Dave Parker's letter covering this report, and I earnestly ask for you to consider his request. If the Club is to continue doing what is does already, and to expand, then the Offices must be filled. Failure to fill the Offices could mean that the Club will die, just after it has been born. We need your support now!
We have only managed to run one social event, the first Litten Tree meeting, which, by all accounts, was deemed a great success, and we hope that this October's event will be equally enjoyable, and more social events are planned for the future..
Paul Close did try to run a small car rally, but there was a disappointing response, and it was deemed better to cancel the event and refund the entry money to those who were kind enough to take an interest.
We need a Social Committee to arrange and manage events, once again, a subject which will be discussed at the AGM. There is a Xmas gathering, which you will have received news of in an earlier letter.

It is not an easy task to set up a Club such as this, and I have to thank the Committee members who have assisted me in getting the Club to where it is today. We haven't done too badly for the first year, but we need to build on this and get names of those who could be, but who have not become members, to join us. We have only scratched the surface of potential membership."

Geoffrey Liley,
Chairman