Citigroup

edited November 2007 in The Economy
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Citigroup's Prince Steps Down, Rubin Named Chairman (Update3)

Citigroup Inc. said Chief Executive Officer Charles Prince is stepping down after the largest U.S. bank warned of as much as $11 billion of additional writedowns on subprime mortgages and related securities, on top of more than $6 billion of charges reported for the third quarter.

Robert Rubin, who was U.S. Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton and had served as the chairman of Citigroup's executive committee since 1999, will take over Prince's role as chairman of the board, the New York-based bank said today in a statement. Sir Win Bischoff, a London-based executive who joined Citigroup in 2000 when it bought Schroders Plc, is stepping in as interim CEO........

.......Prince joins a growing list of executives who have lost their jobs in fallout from losses in the fixed-income markets. He departs less than a week after Merrill Lynch & Co., the world's biggest brokerage, ousted Stan O'Neal after the New York-based firm disclosed $8.4 billion of writedowns.

UBS AG, the biggest Swiss bank, dismissed CEO Peter Wuffli in July and said earlier this month that finance chief Clive Standish and investment-banking head Huw Jenkins were stepping down. Others ousted include Bear Stearns Cos. President Warren Spector and Citigroup trading head Thomas Maheras.

The world's largest financial institutions have disclosed more than $30 billion of writedowns as the worst housing slump in 16 years has led to record U.S. foreclosures and losses in the subprime market. Analysts have said Citigroup may have to take more writedowns in the fourth quarter to reflect the decreasing value of mortgage-related securities.....
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Additional Citigroup articles (and other relevant info) on Ben Jones' The Housing Bubble Blog

A $1 Trillion Problem
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Comments

  • My favorite quote from Mr. Prince:

    "When the music stops, in terms of liquidity, things will be complicated. But as long as the music is playing, you've got to get up and dance. We're still dancing." (said in July 2007)

    What kind of severance will this guy be getting?
  • bili,

    I've seen that number thrown around, but everywhere it's quoted the writer is referring to his compensation in salary and stock over the last couple of years. The articles note that he was let go without a written employment agreement and that severance pay was TBD.

    I could be mistaken though. Do you have a link to the $150 million number?
  • Nope. Just heard it on NPR.
  • .
    Citigroup Abu Dhabi deal signals trouble ahead

    Citigroup Inc's decision to raise $7.5 billion in capital is a signal to analysts and investors that the largest U.S. bank is likely to have a rough fourth quarter -- perhaps even worse than it has projected.

    Citigroup may not be overpaying for the capital, according to convertible bond experts, but if the bank was ready to post excellent results in coming quarters, it would not likely be paying 11 percent a year for money from Abu Dhabi, investors said......

    .....Citigroup said Monday it is selling up to 4.9 percent of itself for $7.5 billion to the Gulf Arab emirate of Abu Dhabi, giving the largest U.S. bank fresh capital as it wrestles with the subprime mortgage crisis and a search for a new chief executive....

    ....The bank recorded about $6.8 billion in write-downs and losses in the third quarter, and said on November 4 that it could write down another $8 billion to $11 billion in repackaged consumer debt in the fourth quarter.....
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