Citigroup Inc. is reorganizing its credit card and retail banking operations in the U.S. to improve service and boost sales, and has made management changes within those units, according to Citi memos Wednesday.
Top executives at Citi, the third-largest bank in the U.S. by assets, have long felt it was too technocratic, with a focus on products rather than service and selling. Manuel Medina-Mora, consumer chief for the Americas, pledged change, and in September hired Cecilia Stewart as head of retail and Jud Linville as head of cards to help design and implement a new strategy.
On Wednesday, Citi unveiled organizational and management changes it hopes will help in targeting the right clients with the right product. Retail banking and cards will be organized into units focused on customer segments, product development and distribution.
In a memorandum to retail banking staff, Stewart said: "We must align ourselves to the segments, strengthen our product and service offerings … enhance the customer experience … and maintain oversight and control of our underlying risks. Achieving this will improve our market position and generate sustained, long-term growth and profitability."
Stewart, a former head of retail banking at Wachovia Corp., joined Citi from Morgan Stanley.
Linville wrote in his memo to the cards staff, "We must first protect our franchise by reinforcing controls" in the rapidly changing environment for the credit and debit card business, "in essence funding our future while restoring our brand strength." He joined Citi from American Express Co.
Citi's retail business will have five segments: the branch network, product development, two separate customer segments and risk and controls.
Stewart hired Steve Troutner from Bank of America Corp.'s mortgage business to head its banking products team, according to a memo. Brad Dinsmore, who led Citi's North American branch network, will take another job within Citi. A search for his replacement as head of the branch network is under way. Citi is also looking for a head of risk and controls.
Venu Krishnamurthy was named head of the high-net-worth and affluent segments, which includes responsibility for brokers in Citibank branches. He was lead finance officer at Citi's private bank. Deborah McWhinney, who headed the wealth management business for Citibank, changed jobs at Citi last week.
In cards, segments include affluent and co-branded cards; mass market; and loyalty and new products. Linville is looking for a head of the mass market business, while the other managers are internal appointments.
Citi has gone through major restructurings, and abandoned an attempt to grow by taking more risk, a strategy that brought it to the brink of collapse. Vikram Pandit, Citi's chief executive, refocused the bank on the deposit, lending and capital markets businesses, and urged greater focus on customers. He has divested several businesses that did not generate deposits, and poor-performing loans and securities that caused painful losses.
Its U.S. retail banking business has until now not undergone any dramatic restructuring. Medina-Mora's goal is to make use of the businesses Citi is in, and strengthen Citi's presence in major metropolitan markets.
