A critical look at Citi’s restructuring
This 2024 Fast Company piece deserves a critical read. To its credit, Citi was candid about some of its gaps. It admitted to insufficient compliance skills and said it hadn’t defined what its critical roles required. Hiring the former head of FinCEN and OFAC reflects that recognition.
The technical skills Citi flagged include risk management, data governance and data analytics. The problem is who was put in charge of fixing them.
Some people were promoted internally without ever having held a real risk management role: or without any first-hand sense of what Risk does in the post-2008 world. Others were hired externally with no relevant background, such as people from Market Risk placed into credit and operational risk roles.
Then there were the Big Tech wannabes with no demonstrated technology, security or transformation expertise. They brought along teams they had failed to develop in any meaningful way over the past 10–15 years, and put former HR and PMO staff into roles they weren’t qualified for. One tech product director had no background in risk management or banking, and didn’t think the group needed that skillset even though it supported Enterprise Risk Management (ERM). A budget manager who had nearly been fired twice in her previous role was placed in the Chief Data Office. She had no technical expertise and showed no real management or leadership ability.
The human cost showed up in delivery. As round after round of reorganization went on, people working in or near the transformation stopped delivering. They didn’t know if they would still have jobs in two months. Even MDs acknowledged that Citi needs good people and that fear undermines delivery.
So enough with the PR machine. Citi didn’t take a disciplined, methodical approach to the reorg. It was dogmatic about cutting headcount, and quite willing to falsify paperwork to make it happen.
https://www.fastcompany.com/91209866/hiding-plain-sight-key-fix-citigroups-regulatory-woes