Citi Reshuffles Management Ranks (C)

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) is announcing some key management changes.  While this is not a CEO change as many expect to ultimately see, this is still a rather large shake-up and is very similar to shaking up the tree.  CEO Vikram Pandit is announcing several senior management changes.  The company is getting a new CFO and is reshuffling the responsibilities of other top executives.  But Pandit is still on board.

John Gerspach, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer, is becoming the new Chief Financial Officer.  Prior CFO “Ned” Kelly will take on broader responsibilities for strategy and M&A and will become Vice Chairman of Citigroup.

Eugene M. McQuade will join Citi as Chief Executive Officer for Citibank, N.A.  He recently served as Vice Chairman of Merrill Lynch and President of Merrill Lynch Banks. Before then, he was the President and Chief Operating Officer of Freddie Mac and served as President of Bank of America Corporation.

Bill Rhodes is reducing his level of operating responsibility in order to focus more of his time on Citi’s international franchise.  He will continue to be Senior Vice Chairman of Citigroup and Citibank, but he will step down as Chairman and CEO of Citibank, N.A.

Gary Crittenden, Chairman of Citi Holdings, is out.  He “has decided to leave Citi to relocate to Utah to devote more time to his family and other business interests.”  We aren’t going to speculate if that is an outright firing or something instigated by Crittenden himself.  But we have heard and seen this before.

We previously listed Pandit as a CEO that might not survive 2009.  That isn’t due to his involvement of the old Citi problems because so much of the issues were legacy issues he arrived to clean up.  But surviving a reorganization and total destruction of wealth of this magnitude is no easy feat.  Ask Mr. Liddy.

Jon C. Ogg
July 9, 2009