When Citigroup (NYSE:C) president Jamie Forese announced he was stepping down in April 2019, it set off a chain of events that culminated Thursday when the firm announced it will appoint Jane Fraser as CEO, making her the first female head of a major U.S. bank.
Forese, a 33-year veteran of Citigroup, was widely seen as CEO Michael Corbat’s heir apparent, the person who would take over the third-biggest U.S. bank if something happened to Corbat. Now, it was anybody’s game.
Fraser, a rising star and former McKinsey partner who ran the bank’s sprawling Latin American operations, saw the opening she’d been waiting for.
She let Corbat know that she was getting interest from executive recruiters to run a major bank, and if Corbat wanted her to stay, she needed to be promoted, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
It was effectively a two-horse race: Stephen Bird, who led Citigroup’s consumer bank at the time, also told Corbat that he was fielding calls from interested parties and needed clarity.
Corbat Thursday announced that, after 37 years at Citi, including the last eight years as CEO, he plans to retire from Citi and step down from its Board of Directors in February 2021.
Fraser is currently Citi’s President and CEO of Global Consumer Banking, and will succeed Corbat as CEO in February, and she has been elected to the Board of Directors, with service beginning immediately. Fraser has been at Citi for 16 years and has been in her current roles since 2019.
C shares prospered 26 cents to $51.20.
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