Back to John Gapper's Business Blog homepageThe executive comings and goings at Citigroup have provided plenty of material for intrigue in the past year and the latest reshuffle is no exception.
The arrival of Eugene McQuade, a veteran commercial banker, as the head of Citi’s North American operations as Ned Kelly is pushed upstairs to vice-chairman from being Citi’s chief financial officer, feels as if it could turn out to be significant.
We know that Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, is among those dissatisfied with the senior management team led by Vikram Pandit on the grounds that it is dominated by investment rather than commercial bankers.
Now comes the ascension of Mr McQuade, who has an extremely solid commercial banking background, with stints at Manufacturers Hanover, FleetBoston Financial and Freddie Mac. It coincides with the installation of another chief financial officer - John Gerspach.
I have no inside knowledge of what is going on - given Washington’s influence over the Citi boardroom these days, interpreting management changes there is a bit like Kremlinology - but I suspect that we are seeing the start of a changing of the guard.
Incidentally, Manufacturers Hanover - known at Manny Hanny - which was long ago absorbed into today’s Chase/Chemical/JP Morgan was the training ground for many of today’s senior bank executives.
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