Citigroup is adding a second pair of hands to oversee improvements to the company's data quality management processes, which have been called out by regulators for being inadequate.
Tim Ryan, who joined Citi in June as the head of technology and business enablement, will work with Anand Selva, Citi's chief operating officer, to lead the data-enhancement efforts, according to an internal memo Monday from Ryan and Selva that was seen by American Banker.
Ryan, who was a senior partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers before joining Citi, will now have "direct management oversight " of the data team, according to the memo. Selva will continue to oversee the firm's yearslong risk management and controls remediation project, as well as Citi's day-to-day operations and controls.
The move comes about two months after Citi was fined a combined $136 million in civil penalties by the Federal Reserve Board and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The regulators said the megabank hasn't moved fast enough to address certain deficiencies in its risk management programs or to meet certain remediation milestones related to data integrity.
Having Ryan lead the data team, which has about 800 employees, is unrelated to the latest fines, the company said Monday. It's something that Citi has been intending for a while, it said.
In the memo, Ryan and Selva said there are "clear benefits" to partnering on data improvements.
"Data and technology are intrinsically linked, and the maturity and sustainability of our data transformation plan require that we leverage technology more," they wrote. "The pace and quality of this effort will be bolstered by the combination of a deep knowledge about Citi and extensive experience implementing large-scale technology projects that we respectively bring to the table."
Selva, who has been with Citi for more than three decades, was promoted in March 2023 to the then newly created position of COO and was put in charge of the risk management overhaul. He took over the responsibility from Karen Peetz, who retired from Citi later that year.
As COO, Selva reports directly to CEO Jane Fraser.
At PwC, Ryan was in charge of the accounting firm's strategy and execution, as well as 75,000 employees, and is "adept at leading large-scale transformation," according to his biography, in which he is also credited with "bringing workforce and business operations into the digital age."
Data integrity is one of four areas that Citi has been trying to improve since 2020 when the company was hit with a pair of consent orders from the Fed and the OCC, which assessed a $400 million fine against the company. In addition to data quality management, the consent orders require Citi to also address issues with its controls, risk and compliance functions.
In July, the Fed and the OCC criticized Citi for taking too long to make data-related improvements and assessed civil money penalties of $60.6 million and $75 million, respectively. The OCC issued an amended consent order that required Citi to file a board-approved plan within 30 days of the date of the order that outlines a process by which the bank will determine if "sufficient resources" are being directed toward "achieving timely and sustainable compliance."
Last week at an industry conference, CFO Mark Mason said the company has "already done a lot of work" on how it invests in capturing quality data and how it can improve processes, governance and standardization related to data.
"And we're going to execute on that over the coming quarters as we need to," Mason said.
Also on Monday, it was announced that Citi has found a buyer for one of its wealth businesses, marking the latest move to shrink operations to become a simpler and more profitable company.
Citi plans to sell its global fiduciary and trust administration services to JTC, a global professional services provider, for $80 billion, according to a regulatory filing. The deal is expected to be finalized in the first half of 2025 and will serve to bolster JTC's growth, including in the United States.
Since Fraser became CEO in 2021, Citi has been selling or winding down poor-performing businesses across its global footprint, including nearly a dozen consumer banking franchises in other countries, with 14 total on the table, including its Banamex franchise in Mexico.
It also sold its municipal bond underwriting and trading business and its distressed-debt group.
