Crane

Citi's Pandit: Still Going in Circles

The more interesting question is to first ask, "Has any one been successful running Citi?" All of the leaders of Citi from Wriston on have been great men who have fallen far. Citi is a culture that feasts on itself, the snake eating its tail.

The best thing about Vikram is that he does not come from this past.

Then you have to ask the second question, "Can Vikram overcome the culture?"

Is Citi's Vikram Pandit a Robot?

Your commentary seems based on a cursory reading of Mr. Pandit's op-ed piece and implies an over eagerness to find fault in anything Citi. His writing style is clear and the conclusion even clearer - we need regulatory consistency.

Citi's Dreadful Succession Planning

Citi has had an abysmal succession strategy for years, even in the days of John Reed when he made it clear to every senior executive that none of the them had a chance of succeeding him. Sandy's attempt to shift blame and rewrite history is therefore no surprise. What Sandy conveniently forgets is that he helped foster a corrupt compliance environment where golden boys like Jack Grubman were allowed to flagrantly circumvent the rules. The Board picked the right man, Chuck Prince, to clean things up. But no one ever thought Chuck, once the compliance mess was resolved, could provide strategic leadership to grow the company. That is where Sandy and the rest of the Board failed the shareholders. They did not have the courage to admit that Chuck was not the right man for the long haul. So, like Chuck, they decided to keep dancing as the music of Citi's demise played on.