New Appointments Ahead Of Stake In Bank

By Jonathan Stempel  |   2009-7-27  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

CITIGROUP Inc has appointed three new directors, including a former New York State banking superintendent, and given board member Jerry Grundhofer the job of chairman of its retail banking unit.

The appointments come as the United States government prepares to take a 34 percent stake in the bank.

Regulators have pressured Chief Executive Vikram Pandit and Chairman Richard Parsons to overhaul management and improve performance after a series of federal bailouts stemming from billions of dollars of credit losses and writedowns.

Citigroup's new directors include Diana Taylor, 54, the former New York banking superintendent who is now a managing director of fund manager Wolfensohn Capital Partners.

The other new board members are Timothy Collins, 52, chief executive of private equity firm Ripplewood Holdings LLC; and Robert Joss, 68, a professor at Stanford University's business school. Citigroup's board now has 17 members, including seven who joined this year.

One of these new directors is Grundhofer, who will become non-executive chairman of Citibank NA. He replaces William Rhodes, whose decision to quit as head of the banking unit was announced earlier this month.