The downfall of Citigroup has taken place over a long time and involved many people, but attention is now focussing on the role of Robert Rubin, the former US Treasury Secretary, who is a Citi director and senior adviser and was briefly its chairman.

Mr Rubin has had an influential role at Citi since being brought on board by Sandy Weill in 1999 but has not been an executive. Having formerly been co-chairman of Goldman Sachs, he preferred to exercise influence behind the scenes.

He described his role thus when I interviewed him last year:

“People come by and want to talk about things. Some are unhappy with their jobs, others want to talk to me about how to approach a client or a government. My entire staff is two secretaries. That’s who reports to me.”

Now, of course, a big loss has been disclosed at Citi and various people are asking what Mr Rubin had to do with it. That was among the subjects covered in a long article in The New York Times on Saturday. It found that Mr Rubin and Chuck Prince, Citi’s former chairman and chief executive, played “pivotal roles” in the bank’s disastrous push into underwriting and trading collateralised debt obligations. Read more

Tim Geithner, the new US Treasury Secretary-apparent, is very like his new boss.

First, they are the same age. They were both born in August 1961.

Second, they both have a modest, likeable manner (despite being ambitious and self-assured).

Third, they are both thin and youthful-looking.

Fourth, they both had an Asian upbringing. Mr Geithner went to school in Thailand, Mr Obama in Indonesia.

Fifth, they are both cautious, pragmatic policy wonks.

All in all, they should be able to work together well. Read more

Wall Street is clearly going to cut bonuses this year, and next year does not look promising either. But financial industry types have not given up the hope of an eventual return to a system based on taking 50 per cent of revenues for the annual bonus pool.

Personally, I am sceptical about that for a couple of reasons. Read more