When corporate mandates meet executive privilege
Despite Citi’s company-wide push to end reliance on consultants and contractors, ERM Tech & Data leadership secured a free-pass to keep external spending alive.
Instead of investing in internal talent, budget was funneled to Big Four consultants (with a clear bias toward specific national networks) to drive strategy, at the expense of capable full-time staff.
This wasn’t merely a misallocation of resources. It was an abuse of positional power that systematically undermined competent employees and exhibited institutional bias.
To top it off, critical infrastructure was handed over to under-qualified external contractors. When Internal Audit raised questions, leadership chose deception over accountability.
In this group, ethics, risk management and compliance are entirely optional.