Story 174

Citi: 18 years out of the ICU and still “repositioning” Bloomberg ran a piece this week on how Citi’s CEO has earned the President’s trust — dinner under Windsor Castle’s ceiling with the King, back at the White House for the Saudi Crown Prince, on the trip to Beijing to meet Xi. Insiders quoted saying…

To Story 220 re. Northern Trust, this does not surprise me. A few years ago, I flew to Chicago for a two-day interview process for a role with a significant remit (two or three down from CEO). Throughout the first day, I observed several concerning dynamics—most notably, awkward banter between business partners that suggested cut-throat…

When the Coverup Becomes the Crime: A Cautionary Tale from KPMG Last week, the CEO of KPMG Australia resigned without notice. While he wasn’t personally implicated in wrongdoing, how he handled it when others were, precipitated his demise. KPMG partners were found to have inappropriately shared confidential client information internally. A whistleblower raised the alarm….

“Citi is a bank with a brain and a bank with a SOUL” and “Our clients love doing business with us because we are good people.” These are Jane Fraser’s most commonly used refrains, though I think she finally stopped claiming bank with a soul because it is very, very clearly the most soul-less place…

In CCAR-adjacent functions — processes subject to federal oversight and with direct implications for how a bank represents its financial stability to regulators — governance exists precisely because the stakes of getting it wrong extend beyond the institution to the broader financial system. What happens when Citi leadership in those functions does not understand the…

So many instances:– When I was very junior a senior manager told me I smelled nice. At a different point said he was looking for a lover.– Another senior manager avoided me like a plague if when I told him I was there if he needed anything. I meant related to work – and thought…