Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), fresh off the canning of former CEO and underperformer Chuck Prince, has said that a reorganization of its investment-banking unit [subscription required] is in order. In addition, the company will be "removing" the head managers of its credit-markets group. At the same time, Citigroup will initiate a tighter integration of its equity and fixed income operations.In other words, Citigroup is moving two executives to other roles and will be putting in place more safeguards to prevent the kind of underwriting messes and income mismanagement that helped the company to billions in write-downs in its latest quarter. Yes, the tearing down of Prince's once-mighty kingdom has begun.
This was probably in the works before Prince got the boot. There are so many things that Citigroup must now do to rectify itself and reduce exposure in some areas -- but of course, it will take time.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Vikram Pandit (from the acquired Old Lane Partners) wants to tear down the walls that were up between bankers that sell such products as high-yield bonds from those that sell stocks or derivatives. The point? Get them more focused on customer needs and not their own firm's needs. Greed and customer ignorance built Prince's kingdom; a return to putting the customer first could easily help save it.
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