- Citigroup announced changes to its technology and services divisions.
- CEO Jane Fraser aims to simplify the bank’s structure and focus on profitable business areas.
- Two key executives are leaving the bank amid the shakeups.
Sprawling Citi Group is no stranger to reorganizations since its CEO, Jane Fraser, took the helm of the global bank in 2021.
The company has now announced internal changes in two key divisions of its transformation: in the technology unit that underpins the huge bank and in its services business. The latter helps customers manage and move money globally and is what Fraser called the bank’s “crown jewel.”
Fraser inherited a bank struggling with regulatory issues and outdated technology that lagged behind its other known peers. It has since sold its activities, announced layoffs of several thousand positions, and brought in senior executives to help revitalize areas like technology, wealthAnd investment bank.
“You can see the very tangible progress we’re making in executing on the strategy we laid out at our investor day three years ago,” Fraser said on a call with analysts last week. “Since then, we have significantly simplified our business.”
On Monday, Tim Ryan, Citi’s chief technology officer, and Shahmir Khaliq, its head of services, sent memos, seen by Business Insider, announcing the changes. Here are the changes presented by each leader and why.
Technological overhaul
In a memo to the bank’s technology and business operations employees, Ryan said he is reshaping his leadership team to help the bank keep up with the rapid pace of technological change and “position Citi as a preferred destination for engineering talent.”
The leadership shakeup will also lead to changes within teams to better align with the company’s mission; Ryan said these would be communicated shortly.
Tim Ryan joined Citi as chief technical officer in mid-2024. Courtesy of Citi
“I know the organization has been through a lot over the last 18 months,” Ryan said. “I need you to know that I am making these changes to help secure Citi’s future and, in doing so, create opportunities. This is the big picture I am asking that we keep moving forward -plane of our minds.”
Ryan said he has been taking stock of the technical team’s weaknesses and strengths since arriving last June from the top U.S. job at accounting firm PwC.
The management changes followed last Thursday’s news, reported by Barron’sthat Shadman Zafarthe bank’s co-chief information officer, would leave.
The memo says Jonathan Lofthouse is now the sole chief information officer, adding that his team will be responsible for all of the company’s technology and will be “relentlessly focused” on accelerating the modernization and simplification of the banking technology stack.
Other changes to the range include:
- Al Tarasiuk, head of information security, will become head of core services and will assume oversight of the technology infrastructure in addition to security.
- Julien Courbe joins Citi from PwC as Head of Business Functions and Change. His team will be responsible for functions, risks and financial technology.
- David Griffiths has been appointed chief technology officer and head of emerging technologies and strategic partnerships. He will work across the organization to deliver and integrate the company’s technology tools. Ryan said he would “harness the unprecedented access we have to the best technology in the world to ensure Citi is first in the future.” Griffiths was previously responsible for engineering and architecture.
- Ann Barron-DiCamillo will assume a newly created role as head of technology optimization and risk reduction. She will focus on ensuring consistency and simplification of Citi’s software across the enterprise. She was previously global head of cyber operations.
Service redesign
Last summer, Citi dedicated an entire day to investors to talk about one of its oldest businesses: services.
The company is undergoing reorganization and a 35-year Citi veteran and key leader within the unit is leaving the company. Services, one of the bank’s five core business lines, is at the heart of Fraser’s turnaround strategy; it is considered a unique activity that can be leveraged to further increase income.
Khaliq said in a memo to employees that Okan Pekin, the global head of securities services, had decided to leave the bank and pursue new opportunities. Pekin will remain with Citi until the end of March as a member of the services management team.
Okan Pekin at Citi Services Investor Day in June. Citi
Its unit, which works with investment managers and companies issuing debt and equity securities, will become two business lines: issuer services and investor services. Investor services will include custody, fund services and execution services, Khaliq said in a separate note. The company is looking for a new head of investor services
Pekin has led Citi’s asset manager services since 2013. Under his leadership, he restructured the company, won several client mandates and grew Citi’s ETF business.
He joined the company in 1989. During his tenure at Citi, he led sales of Citi’s markets division for Europe, the Middle East and Africa and helped Citi become a leader in the sector exchanges.
Citi’s services business segments also include payments, liquidity management services, and business and working capital solutions.
Artie Ambrose, head of treasury operations and business solutions at Citi, will take on an expanded role as head of services operations.
Khaliq said the division’s structure would “continue to evolve” and the bank would share more once it named a replacement in Beijing.
“I am confident that these changes will drive the continued momentum of our business as a business and also open up greater mobility opportunities for our talents across our various businesses,” he said.