Citigroup is going to have a woman chief executive officer for the first time in its history. The major Wall Street bank has announced that current CEO Micahel Corbat will retire in February next year after being with the bank for 37 years. He will be succeeded by cur current head of Citi’s consumer banking business. Consumer lending veteran Jane Fraser will be the next CEO of the bank. She has been the top contender for the job ever since she was promoted to her current role last year. She has been with Citigroup for the last 16 years.
Fraser was also being reported to join the board of directors, effective immediately. Fraser, a banking veteran, holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and also a master’s degree in economics from Cambridge University. She has overseen several other businesses of the bank and served as chief executive of its Latin American region, its private bank, its commercial bank, and mortgage business. Before joining Citi in 2004, she was associated with Goldman Sachs and McKinsey & Company. Citi’s chairman John C Dugan said in a statement that Fraser is the right person to carry forward the legacy of Mike and take Citi to the next level.
Dugan said that Fraser has vast experience across Citigroup’s lines of business and regions and the group has a lot of confidence in her. “Her ability to operate a business and think strategically is a unique combination that will serve Citi well,” Dugan added. Currently, Fraser is looking after the consumer business in 19 countries. She started her career with the company’s corporate and investment banking in 2014. The move will put 53-year-old Fraser in a very small group of woman leaders at major corporations. According to the advocacy group Catalyst, there are just 31 females among the chief executive officers of the 500 companies that make up the S&P 500 stock index.
