Citi Re-enters Card Market with Unique Issuance

It has been an unusually quiet year for credit card securities issuance, with two major players - Citigroup and Bank One Corp. - seemingly absent from the market. However, market participants are anxiously awaiting Citigroup's first issuance of the year, which is structured like no other credit card deal to hit the ABS market.

The $850 million Citibank Credit Card Issuance Trust 2000 C1 could price early this week, according to Peter DiMartino, head of asset-backed research at Salomon Smith Barney. What makes this deal unique is that the securities will all be subordinate classes, with about $350 million rated A and the remaining $500 million rated triple-B.