Citigroup's Fraser Tops List of Heirs Apparent -- WSJ
October 25 2019 - 3:02AM
Dow Jones News
By David Benoit
This article is being republished as part of our daily
reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S.
print edition of The Wall Street Journal (October 25, 2019).
Citigroup Inc. tapped its Latin America chief, Jane Fraser, to
serve as the bank's No. 2 executive, putting her atop the list to
succeed Chief Executive Michael Corbat.
The New York bank named Ms. Fraser president and head of its
consumer bank, where she replaces Stephen Bird. Mr. Bird, who had
been considered a potential CEO candidate, is leaving the bank
after being passed over for the president role, according to people
familiar with the matter.
Mr. Bird told Mr. Corbat he was leaving "to pursue an
opportunity outside our firm," Citigroup said Thursday.
Mr. Bird had led the consumer bank since 2015 and was a veteran
of the bank's Asia Pacific operations. He will stay for a short
transition period, the bank said.
Citigroup has been without a president since Jamie Forese
retired earlier this year. Mr. Corbat selected one of his deputies
for the role to make sure the bank had a successor in place, the
people said. Mr. Forese had run the arm of the bank that includes
investment banking and trading.
Mr. Corbat, 59, has been CEO since 2012 and expects to stay for
at least three more years. "I remain committed to leading our firm
in the coming years and look forward to working even more closely
with Jane in her new roles," he said in a memo to employees the
bank released Thursday.
Mr. Corbat has earned praise for smoothing over the bank's
once-fraught relationship with regulators. But Citigroup's stock
still trades below book value, or its net worth, and last year an
activist investor took a stake in the bank.
The appointment makes Ms. Fraser, 52, one of the highest-ranking
women in the U.S. banking business. At a congressional hearing this
year, Mr. Corbat and other big-bank CEOs -- all white men -- were
asked if they were likely to be succeeded by female candidates one
day. No one said yes.
Days later, JPMorgan Chase & Co. shortlisted Marianne Lake
and Jennifer Piepszak, two women with decades of experience at the
bank, to one day succeed James Dimon as CEO.
Ms. Fraser joined Citigroup in 2004 after stints at Goldman
Sachs Group Inc. and McKinsey & Co. The bank has tapped her for
a number of thorny tasks, and she has long been a trusted
lieutenant of Mr. Corbat. She played a lead role in key decisions
to slim down Citigroup, such as selling the Smith Barney brokerage.
She also ran the private bank, which serves ultrarich clients
around the world.
She was most recently CEO of Citigroup's Latin American
division. The unit is the smallest of the company's regions by
income in both consumer and investment banking but has the highest
return rate. Citigroup's Mexico consumer bank, formerly called
Banamex, has a large presence in that country.
In her new role as head of Citigroup's global consumer arm, Ms.
Fraser takes over a unit that accounts for roughly half of the
bank's total revenue but whose profit lags behind its
investment-banking arm.
Ernesto Torres Cantu, currently CEO of Citibanamex, succeeds Ms.
Fraser as CEO of Citigroup Latin America.
Write to David Benoit at david.benoit@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 25, 2019 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)
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