Citigroup Inc.'s office building in Port-au-Prince was destroyed in Tuesday's earthquake, and the company still is trying to account for all of its employees in Haiti's capital city.
The New York company has more than 40 employees stationed in Port-au-Prince, where they worked out of a three-story building that collapsed Tuesday evening.
Citigroup's employees in Port-au-Prince work primarily for the company's Global Transaction Services unit, which helps companies, governments and other organizations move money around the world. Some of the employees also work in a Citigroup retail-banking branch in Port-au-Prince.
In a memo to Citigroup employees at about noon on Wednesday, Chief Executive Vikram Pandit wrote that the earthquake "caused extensive damage to buildings throughout Port-au-Prince, including a three-story Citi building. Our top priority is to ensure that our colleagues are safe and accounted for, and we are doing everything we can to do so as quickly as possible."
"We have a team making its way to Port-au-Prince along with medical equipment, humanitarian supplies and satellite phones. Their immediate task is to assist our colleagues in any way they can," Pandit added.
"We have been in contact with Gladys Coupet, chief country officer for Haiti, who suffered a broken leg, but is safe. Gladys provided us with an early report, and we hope to get a more detailed update from our team in Port-au-Prince shortly. I will report back to you as soon as we have more information to share with you."
