Citigroup Inc.'s headquarters in the Haitian capital of Port-Au-Prince collapsed in Tuesday's earthquake, injuring the New York banking company's top executive in the nation.
The company is trying to account for 44 people in all, who worked in the three-story office building, Liliana Mejia, a Miami spokeswoman for Citigroup said. Gladys Coupet, its top executive in Haiti, suffered a broken leg, Mejia said. No information was available on other employees, she said. Though some of the office's functions were transferred to Mexico City, most of its Haitian banking business has been disabled, she said.
Citi's Chief Executive Vikram Pandit wrote in a memo to employees that the company has a "team making its way to Port-au-Prince along with medical equipment, humanitarian supplies and satellite phones."
"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," Pandit wrote. "As we have in the past, we will do whatever we can to support emergency response efforts in Haiti."
Citi has done business in Haiti since 1971.
