Before the bank was part of the American Citigroup which in 2010 became Citibank Privatkunden AG & Co. KGaA and until 1991 it had been active under the name Kundenkreditbank.

In 1926 the Kundenkreditbank (KKB) in East Prussian Königsberg was the first bank in Germany which offered loans to private consumers.

Since the early 2000s the German Citibank was known for giving out loans with too high interest to private customers with bad credit rating.

[14] In Germany the Citibank was represented among others by the following corporations: Targobank accounts can be managed online via e-banking or via a mobile phone app.

[18][19] In the course of the breakdown of the American investment bank Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008, the Citibank Germany once again received bad press.

On May 28, 2009 the Citibank announced a successful end after long negotiations with the consumer assistance office NRW, with which the bank agreed on a curtesy arrangement of 27 million Euros.

[23] The compensation model looks at a multi-step refund of 30 up to 80% for those cases which are about existence threatening sums and it involves extensive exclusion criteria.

[24] In fall 2009 the consumer assistance office proved in random tests with 15 banks that they don't forward their massively dropped refinancing costs to their customers.

One of the banks signed a declaration to cease and desist; against the other two – Targobank and Sparda-Bank Münster – the consumer assistance office went to court.

Due to the rebranding of the Citibank into Targobank, consumerists criticized in 2010 that the change from KKB to Citibank in 1991 did not change the criticism of the credit business, the business model would only aim to find new credit users to turn them into long term debtors.