Can Vikram Pandit, new CEO, rescue Citi?

Citi is having a bad time and so are its management. After the exit of Chuck Prince from the company, Citigroup was in search for a new visionary who could lead the company out of ongoing crisis. No doubt it must have been a tough task to select the CEO of such a large organization. Finally Vikram Pandit has been given the responsibility of chief executive of Citigroup.

Vikram Pandit, an Indian, is 50 year old and is a well respected investment banker. But this is the first time he will be leading a big corporation like citi. Critics doubt whether he could prevent citi from disaster. Pandit is looked as a cautious and conservative banker. Earlier he was Chairman and CEO of Citi's Institutional Clients Group.
Citi website has biography of Mr. Pandit. Some of key points are:"He was a founding member and chairman of the members committee of Old Lane, LP, a multi-strategy hedge fund and private equity fund manager that was acquired by Citi in 2007.
Prior to forming Old Lane, Mr. Pandit was President and Chief Operating Officer of Morgan Stanley's institutional securities and investment banking business and was a member of the firm's Management Committee....

Mr. Pandit earned a PhD in Finance from Columbia University in 1986.... "

After being appointed CEO, Mr. Pandit said:

"During this challenging time, Citi's role in the global markets is more vital than ever. We will address our issues head-on while continuing to deliver value for our clients, shareholders, employees and the communities in which we operate."

Citi's stock prices have fallen by more than 35% during last three months. This is first time in five years that its stock prices went below 30 dollar mark. Earlier citi group had declared huge write-downs of 17 billion dollars and decline in operating profits. Currently citi faces a debt threat and it has done a stake sale worth 7.5 billion dollars to Abu Dhabi Investment Authority last month. Citi is also planning to lay-off 17000 employees to cut costs.

During an interview with Business Week Magazine, Mr Pandit said:

“There are three things I’m focusing on. One, we have to make sure we have the right productivity levels. And that runs the gamut of putting capital to work correctly in the right places.

Job two is to look at every one of our businesses . . . individually and collectively, to make sure they are the right businesses and they are positioned for the future we see in financial services....”