GTS is a controversial winner at Citigroup

We're accustomed to thinking of Citigroup in very negative terms. But there is one unit that has weathered the storms very well, and remains integral to the company's success: Its transaction processing unit.

Through September 2009, the unit accounted for 10 percent of revenue and about half of the bank's profit. Executives like to paint it as something of a technological marvel--a vast and seamless transactions network that spans the globe. More than 80 governments and about 60 central banks rely on GTS--Global Transactions Services--to manage cash, payments, transfers and the like. GTS handles about 90 percent of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's transactions in 180 countries and 90 currencies.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the importance of GTS was a factor in the three-part bailout of Citi, as executives argued that the bank couldn't fail because of the significance of its transactions network to the global financial system. According to the Wall Street Journal, through the bailout process, the unit has continued to seek and win government contracts, subtly using the fact that the government owned at one point a large equity stake to suggest that customers ought to support it.

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