Technology: Cross-Selling Called Essential to Citigroup's Growth Plans.

To achieve the annual 15% return on investment goal that Citigroup has set for its business units, technology must be employed to exploit cross-selling opportunities, says Chuck Elgin, chief information officer at the Citigroup Real Estate Business Group.

The management at Citigroup is not going to be content to simply add the earnings of Citibank and Travelers, the companies that merged in 1998 to form Citigroup, he told the Mortgage Technology Conference, sponsored by Thomson Financial, which met here. Rather, top management expects to "leverage the strengths of existing products and distribution channels," said Mr. Elgin.

Citigroup, which earned $13.5 billion last year, more than any other company in the world, comprises three business cultures and systems, and "integrating them is our biggest challenge," he said. The company has 120 million customers using its products or services, and processes one trillion transactions each day.

"Our thinking is you can provide the consumer with a broad and deep set of products regardless of their financial profile," he said.

The Internet, said Mr. Elgin, provides the best hope of getting the company's residential lending products on one platform where the different offerings can be kept in sync. Currently, Citigroup has what it terms "six million Internet relationships" with customers.

"As a ...