Citibank was founded in New York City in 1812 as the City Bank of New York. It was established by a group of New York merchants during a period when the city’s commercial economy was expanding rapidly.
The institution changed its name several times as it grew. In 1955, it became First National City Bank of New York, and in 1976 it adopted the shorter name Citibank. It later became the principal banking subsidiary of Citigroup.
Citibank is not the same institution as the First Bank of the United States or the Second Bank of the United States, both earlier federally chartered banks. Those national banks were created by the U.S. government, while City Bank of New York was a New York commercial bank.