24 October 2006 – JSC “Citibank Kazakhstan”, a member of Citigroup, the leading global financial services company, today opened its 2nd branch in Kazakhstan. The new branch is located at 49, Kabanbai Batyr street next to the KMG Complex and will offer a full range of Citibank’s products to our corporate state owned customers and financial institutions and.

The official opening ceremony and ribbon-cutting was conducted by Medet Sartbayev, Deputy of Governor of National Bank Kazakhstan; H.E. John Ordway, United States Ambassador to Kazakhstan; Mark T.Robinson, Citigroup Division Head for the CIS and Daniel J.Connelly, Chief Executive Officer of JSC “Citibank Kazakhstan” and Citigroup Country Officer.

Mark Robinson noted: “We are pleased that our clients in the Republic of Kazakhstan are enthusiastic about our client-focused approach. We are putting our global expertise in corporate and investment banking to work for our Kazkahstani customers by offering a wide array of world-class products and services. We thank our customers for their warm welcome in Astana and for their business. Kazakhstan is a great country with enormous growth potential and it is a very important market for Citigroup, as evidenced by this branch opening today in Astana."

Citibank opened a representative office in Almaty in 1994. In 1998 Citibank Kazakhstan, a 100% subsidiary of Citigroup with a full banking license from the National Bank of Kazakhstan, opened its doors to corporate customers. Today Citibank Kazakhstan is a major lending, transactional and investment bank to Kazakhstani corporations and financial institutions, as well as Kazakhstani subsidiaries and representative offices of leading international companies.

Daniel J.Connelly, Chief Executive Officer of Citibank Kazakhstan said: “Today’s opening of our second branch in Kazakhstan is clear evidence of Citigroup’s strong commitment to this country. Our business in Kazakhstan has grown substantially over the past several years and we are confident that expanding our presence will allow us to participate even more directly in this country’s impressive economic success. While Astana is a relatively young capital city, it is already vibrant, rapidly growing and home to a number of our existing customers. Citigroup is very active with both Astana-based private sector companies and with many of the largest and most prominent state-owned enterprises, and we hope to expand these relationships even further. We look forward to being active participants in the financial markets as well as in the broader Astana community”.

The opening ceremony was followed in the evening with the reception for clients and other guests at the “Rixos” hotel.