Krawcheck to head Citigroup’s wealth management unit

Forty two year old Sallie L. Krawcheck, the chief financial officer of Citigroup and one of Wall Street's most powerful women will become head of the banking giant’s wealth-management division. Krawcheck replaces Todd Thomson who is leaving the company, effective immediately, “to pursue other interests.”

Citigroup’s chief executive, Charles Prince, said Krawcheck did a "terrific job" as CFO, and was optimistic about Krawcheck’s new role.
He said, “The broad view of our organization that Sallie gained as chief financial officer, and her extensive knowledge of Smith Barney, will help assure our success in that effort, and in driving even stronger performance from what is already one of the world’s leading wealth management businesses.”

Ms. Krawcheck had been chief executive of Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.
before joining Citigroup in 2002. Citigroup recruited her to run its Smith Barney research operations, Citigroup's private client brokerage and equity research arm, whose image had been stained by a string of inquiries into probable conflicts of interest.

She was named Citigroup’s chief financial officer and head of strategy in 2004.

For Ms. Krawcheck, the reassignment will be a homecoming of sorts as Citigroup’s wealth management comprises the Smith Barney brokerage, private bank and research unit.

It is Citigroup's third-largest unit, after retail banking and corporate and investment banking.

Krawcheck assumes the new role just after there had been speculations that she was unhappy in her job. In December, rumors were rife that Krawcheck was about to step down. Now, Analysts are split on whether the latest job change is a demotion. Henry Asher, president of Northstar Group Inc., which owns Citigroup shares said, “It's not a promotion if you think of it only as whether this puts her in line for CEO succession. It's probably good for the company to put her in a unit that suits her talents."

Ms. Krawcheck will remain Citigroup’s finance chief until a successor is found. In the interim, Robert Druskin, who was named Citigroup’s chief operating officer last month, will oversee the wealth-management group.