It would make sense that Citi Bank would be saying this. Their business model the last few years was to have a heavy on-line presence and to shutter the brick and mortar locations. As a matter of fact they have sold the entirety of their retail banking business in Texas to another company.

Eliminate cash and the real-estate footprints of banks can virtually disappear. Negative interest rates in my opinion will only exacerbate the problems they say they are trying to fix. Like any business that is forced to increase expenses (In this case accept losses through negative interest rates) an individual will start making decisions on what to cut back. An employer may determine to cut staff and real estate costs.

People will start dropping paid subscriptions, consuming less credit and over all start throwing all of their spare money at debts before they see banks take percentage off the top.

There will winners and losers in corporate America as a result of this.