Pandit steps down as CEO of Citigroup

By Daniel Wagner
AP Business Writer

Vikram Pandit stepped down as CEO of Citigroup on Tuesday after steering the bank through the 2008 financial crisis and the choppy years that followed.

Pandit’s replacement as CEO is Michael Corbat, the current CEO of Citigroup’s Europe, Middle East and Africa division, the bank said. Corbat has worked at Citigroup and its predecessors since he graduated from Harvard in 1983.

Pandit will also relinquish his seat on Citi’s board of directors. And a second top executive also resigned as part of the shake-up: President and Chief Operating Officer John Havens, who also serves as CEO of Citi’s Institutional Client Group.

The bank offered no explanation for the sudden departure of its two top executives.

On Monday, Citigroup announced third-quarter earnings that beat analysts’ expectations, after stripping out one-time items like a big write-down it had to take because it got less money than it had hoped when it negotiated to sell its stake in its retail brokerage.