I was recruited to Citi from Morgan Stanley in 2022 in a senior compliance role. I wasn’t unhappy at MS but Citi offered a substantial pay increase. To say it’s like being in the Upside Down is an understatement. Risk is constantly downplayed; misrepresenting facts to regulators is commonplace; and anytime an “outsider” (which is to say, not a lifer) offers what senior management believes is a dissenting word, they are shut down. It’s “joked” about internally this is because the company operates as the money-laundering arm of the U.S. government so there is no reason to do things that happen at a normal financial services firm, like care about clients or employees.
I am under no delusion this post will do anything to move the needle. Senior management only cares about profit. But I am writing it to warn anyone who is ethical (and/or not clinically insane) to not accept any amount of money to come here if you are already employed. It weighs on your psyche to work at a place this dysfunctional.