Nikko Cordial and Citigroup first established a joint venture in Japan in 1999 as Salomon Smith Barney Japan Ltd., a company registered and domiciled in the Cayman Islands which operated through a "branch office" in Japan under the trade name .
The company was re-incorporated in Japan in December of 2003 and renamed Nikko Citigroup as part of an overall unification of the Citigroup brand.
In October 2007, Citigroup purchased Nikko Cordial Corporation.
At the 2008 ALB Japan Law Awards, Nikko Citigroup was crowned:
In-House of the Year - International Investment Bank In-House Team of the Year
Deal of the Year - M&A Deal of the Year
Deal of the Year - Japan Deal of the Year
In October 2010, this entity was rebranded and renamed Citigroup Global Markets Japan. The new website is http://www.citigroupglobalmarkets.co.jp/english/.