Well, one thing that hasn’t abruptly changed—not that anyone’s going to be cheering for it, least of all those who thing Citi is just big enough to fail at essentially everything—is the bank’s remarkable propensity for stepping in it, compliance-wise. A few weeks ago, the Federal Reserve and Office of Comptroller of the Currency fined Citi another $136 million for having failed to fix compliance, internal control and risk management structures that it had promised to do four years ago (when it paid $400 million over the same issues). Just before that, the FDIC took issue with the bank’s “data integrity and data management issues.” And Citi’s troubles with the feds (and, specifically, the Fed) don’t end there.
Interviews with more than three dozen current and former Citigroup executives, board members, clients, competitors and investors reveal that doubters are easy to find. Regulators and shareholders want her to accelerate. Some clients think she’s moving too fast, including a top investment manager that bristled at the abrupt changes to Citi staff and services.… Fraser, who became CEO in March 2021, acknowledges her plan still has years to go—and she may not have years. If the strategy doesn’t pan out, calls to break up the once-dominant bank will grow louder.
