Citi’s Pandit under pressure to revive bank - WSJ
May 6th, 2008 | by admin |NEW YORK, May 5 (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research) executivesare pressing CEO Vikram Pandit to be more decisive and forcefulas he faces pressure to turn around one of the world’s largestand most troubled banks, the Wall Street Journal reported onits website on Monday.
The bank, which has sold two small units viewed asperipheral, also plans to unload insurance and mutual-fundsales company Primerica Financial Services in the next fewmonths, people familiar with the matter told the Journal.
Citi officials were not immediately available for comment.
Pandit, a former professor who once ran Morgan Stanley’s(MS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) investment banking and trading businesses, has drawnpraise for addressing urgent financial issues, but alsocomplaints that he has not laid out his vision for the company.
Some executives, the Journal said, complained they werestuck awaiting instructions on matters that previously did notrequire high-level attention.
Former Citigroup chief executive Sandy Weill, who said hesupports Pandit, urged him to speak out more, reach out more toreassure employees and investors.
Meanwhile, Sallie Krawcheck, a former CFO who runsCitigroup’s wealth-management business, during a recent meetingquestioned Pandit whether new reporting lines after a recentmanagement reorganization only created “paralysis,” the papersaid, citing people familiar with the matter.
Pandit, in an interview with the Journal, defended hisanalytical approach, noting a firm with 370,000 employees in100 countries cannot withstand poor decisions made in haste.
“The more patience people have, the better off they’regoing to be at seeing the true value of this company,” he toldthe paper. “It’s probably going to take some time.”
