by bintangkecil on Monday, September 22nd, 2008 | Business, News

An article from Bloomberg:

Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) — Citigroup Inc. wealth-management head Sallie Krawcheck, who was recruited in 2002 by former Chief Executive Officer Sanford “Sandy” Weill to burnish the bank’s image, plans to leave, three people familiar with the matter said.

Citigroup will name Michael Corbat to succeed her, said two of the people, who declined to be identified because the bank hasn’t made a formal announcement. The timing of the transition isn’t known, the people said. Corbat was named head of Citigroup’s corporate and commercial bank in March 2008.

Krawcheck’s departure comes nine months after the bank named a new CEO, Vikram Pandit, to replace Charles O. “Chuck” Prince, Weill’s successor. Prince was ousted last year as mortgage-bond writedowns saddled the New York-based bank with a record fourth- quarter loss of almost $10 billion.

“She’s very talented and she clearly rose to a very senior position,” said Jeanne Branthover, managing director at Boyden Global Executive Search Ltd. in New York.

Citigroup fell 65 cents to $20 as of 2:34 p.m. today in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. It has declined 32 percent this year.

A call to Krawcheck’s office was referred to Citigroup spokeswoman Susan Thomson, who declined to comment. Krawcheck’s departure was reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal.

Krawcheck, 43, joined Citigroup from Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in October 2002 as head of the Smith Barney brokerage and stock-analysis department. Weill was responding to accusations that the bank’s analysts misled investors by publishing biased research to win investment-banking assignments.

She was chief financial officer from November 2004 through March 2007, when she went back to overseeing the bank’s wealth management-businesses, including Smith Barney.

Sallie was #64 in the Forbes’ top 100 most powerful women:

Head of the world’s second-largest wealth manager, Krawcheck runs $2 trillion in client assets. Citi’s fastest-growing unit saw its net income rise 37% last year. Known as Wall Street’s “Mrs. Clean” because of her honesty in the face of research corruption earlier this decade, Krawcheck most recently fought attrition among Citi’s financial advisers. This came after merging Smith Barney with Citi’s Private Bank and reorganizing into divisions based on client assets. The shake-up earned mixed reviews, but Q2 revenues increased 4%, with growth in every region but the U.S.. — Kate Macmillan

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/11/biz_powerwomen08_Sallie-Krawcheck_DFBE.html

Tags: citigroup, Citigroup wealth-management head, Sallie Krawcheck, Smith Barney, Vikram Pandit