Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat said that he is retiring in February after eight years leading the bank, and that the firm’s retail banking chief Jane Fraser will succeed him, making her the first female CEO of a major U.S. bank.
Corbat’s move finalizes a management overhaul that had been underway at the third-largest U.S. bank by assets. Last year, Jamie Forese, Citigroup’s president at the time, announced he was stepping down after three decades at the bank, which followed the departures of the bank’s longtime chief financial officer and a pair of regional heads.
Fraser’s ascension at Citigroup answers a question many have had for years: When would the U.S. banking industry, dominated by men in leadership positions for decades, get its first female big bank CEO?
Here is the bank’s statement:
Citi CEO Michael Corbat 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 in February of 2021. The board selected Jane Fraser, currently Citi’s President and CEO of Global Consumer Banking, to succeed him as CEO in February, and she has been elected to the board, with service beginning immediately. Jane Fraser has been at Citi for 16 years and has been in her current roles since 2019. Jane Fraser is currently the President of Citi and the CEO of Global Consumer Banking. Her global responsibilities include all Consumer businesses in 19 countries, including Retail Banking and Wealth Management, Credit Cards, Mortgages and the associated Operations and Technology.
Jane Fraser, chief executive officer for Latin American at Citigroup Inc., smiles during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., on Monday, April 29, 2019. The conference brings together leaders in business, government, technology, philanthropy, academia, and the media to discuss actionable and collaborative solutions to some of the most important questions of our time. Photographer: Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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