Vikram Pandit quits as CEO of Citigroup

5 YEARS AT THE HELM

THE NAGPUR-BORN Columbia University graduate Vikram Pandit, 55, had been CEO of Citigroup since Dec 2007

PANDIT HAD taken over at the helm of Citigroup at the start of the financial crisis. In 2009 and 2010, as Pandit struggled to pull the bank back from the brink of the crisis, he famously accepted only a US$1 annual salary.

US banking giant Citigroup announced on Tuesday that Vikram Pandit had resigned as chief executive officer (CEO) and a member of the board of directors.
The board unanimously elected Michael Corbat, manager of the bank’s business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, to succeed Pandit.
“We respect Vikram’s decision,” said Michael E O’Neill, chairman of the Citigroup Board of Directors in a company statement. The unexpected announcement came a day after Citigroup reported an 88% drop in earnings for its third quarter.

Pandit said Citigroup had emerged from the 2008 financial crisis as a strong institution. “Given the progress we have made in the last few years, I have concluded that now is the right time for someone else to take the helm at Citigroup,” he said in a statement.
Pandit called Corbat the “right person” to succeed him, with a 29-year record of achievement and leadership at the company.
Citi’s president and chief operating officer, John Havens, also resigned. Havens said he had planned to retire at year-end but decided to leave the company in light of Pandit’s resignation.
Citi shares dropped 2.2% to $35.85 in pre-market trade in New York following the Pandit announcement.