Newly-installed Chief Executive Vikram Pandit, scrambling to slash Citi's costs and get past credit market problems, also intends to reaffirm his promise to cut annual expenses at the largest U.S. bank by roughly 20 percent, one of the sources told Reuters on Thursday.
Citigroup declined to comment.
The sales could amount to nearly 20 percent of Citi's current assets, and according to the Financial Times, which first reported the story Thursday, would take place over several years.
Although Citi has said previously that it plans to shed assets to improve its capital position, the magnitude of the potential sales struck some analysts as worrisome.
"The only reason you'd sell off that many assets is you have a lot more losses coming than you originally thought," said Jim Huguet, co-chief executive at fund manager Great Companies LLC, which does not own Citi shares.
Since late last year, Citi has recorded more than US$45 billion of writedowns and credit losses, raised more than US$40 billion of new capital including US$2 billion of preferred shares this week, and slashed its dividend 41 percent.
Precisely which non-core assets are for sale is unclear, but analysts speculated that consumer finance businesses in the United States, Japan, Mexico, and Germany are possible.
The sources requested anonymity because the plan had not yet been announced. Investors are impatient for improvement at Citi, whose share price has fallen more than 55 percent over the last year.
Pandit has faced demands from investors that he slash costs, shed poorly performing businesses and even split up the bank.
Some investors view Citi, built over two decades by Sanford "Sandy" Weill, as too big to govern, a charge that Weill's hand-picked successor, Charles Prince, routinely denied.
Pandit and other executives are expected to also fend off calls for a break-up Friday when the company offers a four-hour presentation to investors and analysts.
They are instead expected to tout Citi's combination of consumer and institutional businesses, and recommend selling operations and assets outside those main areas.
Pandit's team is also expected to outline the bank's focus on cash management, wealth management and cards as key businesses for the future, one of the sources said.
Citi's U.S. student loan business may make sense to sell, after recent legislative changes and turmoil in the securitization market have made the business less profitable, an analyst said.
The Wall Street Journal this week reported Citi may sell Primerica, a consumer sales network for life insurance and investments.
Citi should also look to sell assets on its trading books, which have contributed to much of the writedowns that bank has taken so far, said Thomas Russo, partner at asset manager Gartner Russo & Gartner.
"It all depends on the price they get and how they do it, but if they can do it over time, and swear off the stuff, it could be good for Citi," Russo.
