Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) Chief Executive Vikram Pandit talks a good game about boosting the fortunes of the embattled Wall Street bank. The problem is that it's just that ... talk.

Pandit on Friday announced he had bought $7 million worth of stock in the New York-based bank. Today, he is expected to show his appreciation to those whose hard work made his undeserved bonus possible by firing 53,000 Citigroup employees.

Notice, I used the "f" word and not "layoffs." A "layoff" leaves open the possibility that these workers may get called back. Given the state of the economy, odds are pretty poor that many of these workers will find employment in the financial services industry anytime soon. Many of these "downsized" sell-siders would like to work for buy-side firms such as mutual funds because they are not as subject to the whims of the stock market. Trouble is, they are not doing much hiring these days either. Many former Citigroup workers will have to find work in other industries.

Yesterday's report [subscription required] in the Wall Street Journal's website, that Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE:C) is set to name Gary Crittenden as the new CFO has been made official. Crittenden is taking the job of Sallie Krawcheck who left the CFO position when she took the head job of Citigroup's global wealth-management division.

Fifty-two year old Crittenden has extensive experience on Wall Street, most recently at American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) where he is currently the CFO and executive vice president. Prior to joining American Express, he served as CFO of Monsanto, an executive of Sears Roebuck, and a board member of UPS and Staples, according to MarketWatch.

It will be interesting to see how the followers of Citigroup's stock (e.g. analysts, money managers, etc.) respond to this announcement. I expect them to be optimistic because Crittenden has extensive experience as a CFO and could help Citigroup turn the company around as well as help manage the current rate environment.

Citigroup shares are up 0.46% to $54.02 in pre-market trading as of 8:35 a.m.