Story 47

Having spent nearly 25 successful years as a senior leader in wealth management, and one of the few women, I have never experienced anything like what transpired at Citi. I remain perplexed, disappointed, and shocked by the firm’s actions and its continued disregard for the damage caused to a previously unblemished career.

Throughout my tenure at other wirehouse and bank firms, I consistently exceeded performance goals, maintained high retention across my teams, mentored and promoted numerous diverse direct reports—many of whom are now Managing Directors at other firms—and received strong performance evaluations. Upon joining Citi, however, I quickly learned that the firm operates by its own rules.

Despite surpassing all stated objectives, maintaining strong retention, and meeting every expectation set forth, I was terminated. There was no performance plan, no HR escalation or investigation.

What I did do was raise significant operational and compliance deficiencies that materially hindered productivity and negatively affected the client experience. Some of these issues were blatant and fell below FINRA standards. When raised with senior leadership, these concerns were initially dismissed or I was asked to “prove it.” I did, in fact, substantiate them, and several resulting protocol changes were ultimately implemented. I took pride in helping bring certain practices up to standard.

However, other concerns I raised—solely for the betterment of the firm and its clients—were not welcomed. I was explicitly told not to speak “negatively about Citi.” As a Managing Director responsible for a large organization, I have always believed it is our mandate to advocate for improvements that serve our clients, teams, firm, and shareholders. It became clear that other senior leaders on the team had grown accustomed to overlooking Citi’s shortcomings. On one occasion, a peer even pulled one of my direct-report managers aside and advised them to “stop bringing these issues up,” framing it as friendly guidance.

Shortly after one of my direct reports respectfully raised an ongoing issue directly with the Head of Wealth, I was terminated without cause the following Monday morning. I was stunned. I was given vague and insignificant explanations and ultimately told I was “not a fit for senior management at Citi.” When pressed for specifics, and in the absence of any documented performance issues, HR provided reasons that were objectively false and demonstrably inaccurate.

Citi later asserted that it follows standard industry protocol when addressing performance concerns: HR consultation, documented discussions, clearly defined expectations, and a performance improvement plan over a three- to six-month period if necessary. None of these steps were followed in my case. Both senior leadership and HR bypassed this entire process.

The question remains whether this deviation was due to an unwillingness to acknowledge or address firm deficiencies, an inability to remediate them, or a belief that raising such concerns—even with a nearly 30-year record of excellence on Wall Street—renders one “not a fit” for senior leadership at Citi.