Over the past year, Jane Fraser, Citi's first female CEO in the firm's history, completed a strategy refresh at the world's most global bank. Despite an implausibly volatile geopolitical environment, she steered Citi to robust first quarter 2022 earnings—returning $4 billion to shareholders, while commanding 200,000 employees globally, and serving millions of consumers and businesses across 95 countries.
Fraser has recently taken several visible measures to secure her organization's global profitability, including unifying Citi's Wealth business and streamlining its global consumer operations. Since announcing plans to exit 13 consumer markets across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East last year, Citi has reached agreements to sell nine of them.
She has been relentless in positioning Citi to be the bank of the future, leading the execution of Citi's strategic business transformation—with an emphasis on digital upgrades and process simplification. This reengineering work continues to drive higher returns, lower Citi's cost of equity, and increase value for the firm's shareholders. In parallel, several noteworthy infrastructure investments—driven by the need to strengthen customer service for both retail and business clients—have increased the firm's efficiency.
From her first day as Citi's CEO in March 2021, Fraser has been a catalyst for cultural transformation, unflaggingly extolling the virtues of affinity and sincere listening. In a widely circulated
"It's time to bust some more myths! Empathy is not a sign of weakness. In fact, it can create a competitive edge. Empathy is about listening to our clients rather than pushing a product or our idea. Incorporating our people's circumstances into our plans rather than telling them to conform. As with every generation, we get to redefine modern leadership. In such a digital world, scale, agility and client centricity are an imperative, and excellence is the only standard. I believe empathy helps us achieve them. Let's set a new way of showing leadership," she wrote.
Fraser's commitment to improved communication and transparency across all levels of the organization has garnered her the respect and loyalty of the firm's workers post-pandemic. In a 2021 survey, 91% of Citi staff said they believe the company is effectively communicating its plans and response to COVID-19.
Since her tenure as CEO began, Citi has worked overtime to move its ESG agenda forward, incorporating its eco-friendly ethos into the firm's business model, while developing new classes of products around ESG. As part of Citi's dedication to furthering climate solutions that range from renewable energy to wet-land conservation and green transportation, they have pledged to become a Net Zero carbon emission company by the year 2050. The firm is also endeavoring to finance $500 billion in environmental projects by 2030, in consensus with the most recent Sustainable Development Goals put forth by the United Nations.
Back home, Citi has turned its attention to the lack of affordable housing that has sprung up in many areas of the United States. The bank is providing $5.6 billion in loans to spur projects that will equip families with homes that are physically secure and fiscally accessible. Through the $200 million Citi Impact Fund, the company is making equity investments in "double bottom line" private sector enterprises that are remedying the most pressing social issues in the United States.
Most of the fund's investments so far have been allocated to companies founded by women and racial/ethnic minorities. As of April 2022, the Citi Impact Fund was supporting 13 Black founders, which translates into 41% of the Fund's portfolio and 28% of its total investment equity.
Expanding on Citi's social impact goals Fraser elaborated, "I firmly believe that greater diversity, equity and inclusion enable progress. To me, diversity is about different perspectives and ideas, equity is about creating a fair playing field for all, and inclusion is about empowering people to be their authentic selves so they can play to their strengths."
Outside of Citi, Fraser is an active member of boards that shape economic policies. She is vice chair for Partnership for New York City, and is a member of the Harvard Business School's board of dean's advisors, the Stanford Global Advisory Board, the Economic Club of New York, and the Council on Foreign Relations.
