Citigroup’s top private-bank exec leaves
John Longley, who was chief executive of Citi Private Bank in the United States and Canada, has left “to pursue other opportunities.”
John Longley, who has been with Citigroup Inc. and its predecessor companies for 16 years and most recently was chief executive of Citi Private Bank in the United States and Canada, has left “to pursue other opportunities,” according to an internal memorandum circulated this month.
Mark Connolly and Richard Ditzio have replaced him as interim co-chief executives reporting to global banking head Ned Kelly. Mr. Connolly ran the wealth management group’s banking activities in the United States, including Citi Fiduciary Services, and Mr. Ditzio had been most recently in charge of the private bank’s high-net-worth group.
Mr. Longley had been co-chief executive of the private bank with Deepak Sharma, who runs its international operations, since April 2007. They replaced Damian Kozlowski, who left after he was at the helm for about two years.
Mr. Sharma continues to run the private bank outside the United States and Canada.
The latest shakeup follows the ailing banking giant’s decision to spin off its Smith Barney brokerage unit into a joint venture later this year that will be majority controlled by Morgan Stanley, its brokerage and investment banking rival. Both companies are based in New York.
After losing $90 billion in write-offs and losses during the past five quarters, Citigroup has split its operations into two divisions. The private bank is part of its Citicorp unit, which includes its core institutional and retail banking businesses.
The company has deposited Smith Barney along with ailing businesses such as its mortgage lending operations and its troubled loan assets into a separate division it is calling Citi Holdings.
“Let me take this opportunity to stress again the importance of the private bank to Citicorp,” Mr. Kelly wrote in the Feb. 4 internal memo. “As part of the global institutional bank, Citi Private Bank will be an integral part of the firm’s success.”
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