Citigroup Inc. banks on Indian in time of crisis

New Delhi: Citigroup Inc. named former Morgan Stanley President Vikram Pandit as its Chief Executive Officer to help the largest US bank recover from at least $9 billion of mortgages losses under predecessor Charles O Prince.

Nagpur-born Pandit, 50, takes over effective immediately, New York-based Citigroup said on Wednesday in a statement.

Pandit, the son of a pharma representative and businessman, came to the United States when he was 16 for undergraduate studies at Columbia University. He earned a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in electrical engineering before switching to finance and earning a PhD. Pandit is also on the board of the Indian School of Business.

Win Bischoff, the acting CEO, will be the new Chairman, replacing Robert Rubin, the former US Treasury Secretary who stepped in to the role when Prince resigned on November 4.

The newly appointed CEO has said that his first priority would be to improve and enhance productivity of the world's largest financial services organisation.

This begins with allocating capital in an objective way where there are clear growth opportunities, India-born Pandit told investors, who are rattled by the crisis in the credit market and billions of dollars of bad loans that Citigroup has to write off.

In a conference call with investors shortly after he was appointed CEO, he said his priorities are about driving efficiency which is to make sure "we're looking at our cost structure on a front to back basis, looking at processes, simplifying the organisational structure around Citi and to make sure we are aligning" the business and resources with the appropriate economic goals.

The other areas he is going to focus on, he said, include positioning the organisation for the future and developing and retaining the best talent.

Wall Street has spent weeks trying to predict who would take on one of the highest profile jobs in global finance. Putative candidates included American International Group Chairman and former Citi Chief Operating Officer Robert Willumstad, Barclays President Bob Diamond, and Wells Fargo Chairman Richard Kovacevich.