The Prince Is Bullish On Citi

Price Alwaleed Bin Talal, the Saudi prince that is Citigroup's C largest shareholder, said the third-largest U.S. bank by assets will bolster its efforts to return capital to investors in 2012, something the bank has previously said it will do after announcing the restoration of a dividend of a penny a share earlier this year. Alwaleed called the one-cent dividend “symbolic” and “for the short-term.” The prince, chairman of the Saudi investment firm Kingdom Holding Co. owns 0.75% of Citi, according to Bloomberg News. Last month, New York-based Citi, which received $45 billion in taxpayer bailout funds during the financial crisis, announced plans for its first dividend since 2009 and a 1-for-10 reverse stock split. Citi did not comment on the prince's remarks. “No doubt, Citigroup is on the right track. Citigroup is doing very well these days,” Alwaleed said, Bloomberg reported.