Very odd circumstances surrounding the abrupt departure of Vikram Pandit today. Just a day after Citi reported one of its best quarters in years the CEO is out. He maintains that it was his choice to leave, word on the street is mixed.

What say you, Soapbox? Is Pandit's departure good for Citi? Could it result in Citi pulling back from its previous goal of being the bank of the BRIC and move back to a more focused domestic business model? How does this potentially impact Citi's 260k employees?

10/16/2012 2:18:18 PM

Citi lost 88% of it's value and this bastard is walking away with $260 million. If only we followed Iceland's lead.

10/16/2012 4:54:51 PM

I don't think Citi's failures had a lot to do with Pandit. Had more to do with his predecessors who got the ball rolling.

I think he did have some issues with the board, ultimately because of the stock price. I think all boards around the US focus too much on the stock price, specifically in the near-term. I listen to the politics of the importance of private business over government jobs and I think they're right when they're talking about truly private businesses. Publicly traded companies..? Ehhhhh..

10/16/2012 10:44:20 PM

crash verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry imminent

10/17/2012 2:36:03 AM

Quote :

"crash verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry imminent"

-GeniusXBoy, internet poster, any moment in the past decade

10/19/2012 10:52:13 AM

Quote :

" I think all boards around the US focus too much on the stock price, specifically in the near-term."

I blame the incredible growth in short term investment. Too many day traders, too much high volume trading, etc. When share holders hold your toes to the fire on quarterly results it puts a lot of strain on the board and on CEOs to show results and growth every quarter, which is just not a reasonable expectation for most companies.

Once people started being concerned with quarterly earnings a huge focus on stock prices was inevitable. Investors, if you can even call many people in the market that anymore, are far too focused on short term results and not on long term fundamentals.

10/19/2012 11:05:14 AM

^ yes.

10/19/2012 9:01:17 PM

Quote :

" BofA Said to Split Regulators Over Moving Merrill Derivatives to Bank Unit By Bob Ivry, Hugh Son and Christine Harper - Oct 18, 2011 1:56 PM ET Bank of America Corp. (BAC), hit by a credit downgrade last month, has moved derivatives from its Merrill Lynch unit to a subsidiary flush with insured deposits, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation. The Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. disagree over the transfers, which are being requested by counterparties, said the people, who asked to remain anonymous because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. The Fed has signaled that it favors moving the derivatives to give relief to the bank holding company, while the FDIC, which would have to pay off depositors in the event of a bank failure, is objecting, said the people. The bank doesn’t believe regulatory approval is needed, said people with knowledge of its position. ‘Be Prepared’ Bank of America’s rating is now four grades below the one Moody’s assigned to JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), the biggest U.S. bank by deposits at midyear, and a level below the rating given to Citigroup Inc. (C), the third-biggest. Bank of America is the only U.S. lender that lacks a rating of A3 or higher among the five firms listed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency as having the biggest derivatives books. “We had worked very hard over the course of the last nine months to be prepared to the extent that we did receive a downgrade, and feel very good about the way that we’ve minimized the potential impact” Bank of America Chief Financial Officer Bruce Thompson said in a conference call today with analysts. “Since the downgrade, we have not seen any change in our global excess liquidity sources.” Derivatives are financial instruments used to hedge risks or for speculation. They’re derived from stocks, bonds, loans, currencies and commodities, or linked to specific events such as changes in the weather or interest rates. Dodd-Frank Rules Keeping such deals separate from FDIC-insured savings has been a cornerstone of U.S. regulation for decades, including last year’s Dodd-Frank overhaul of Wall Street regulation. The legislation gave the FDIC, which liquidates failing banks, expanded powers to dismantle large financial institutions in danger of failing. The agency can borrow from the Treasury Department to finance the biggest lenders’ operations to stem bank runs. It’s required to recoup taxpayer money used during the resolution process through fees on the largest firms. "

crash verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry imminent

10/20/2012 4:34:57 AM

Quote :

"I blame the incredible growth in short term investment. Too many day traders, too much high volume trading, etc. When share holders hold your toes to the fire on quarterly results it puts a lot of strain on the board and on CEOs to show results and growth every quarter, which is just not a reasonable expectation for most companies. Once people started being concerned with quarterly earnings a huge focus on stock prices was inevitable. Investors, if you can even call many people in the market that anymore, are far too focused on short term results and not on long term fundamentals."

people should have to read this before leaving high school

10/21/2012 6:31:40 PM

Quote :

"NEW YORK (Reuters) - Swiss bank UBS AG is expected to cut up to 10,000 jobs, or 16 percent of its workforce, as it contends with shrinking revenue and rising capital requirements, a source familiar with the matter said, in what would be one of the largest layoffs by a bank since the financial crisis."

http://news.yahoo.com/ubs-cut-10-000-jobs-source-000442620--sector.html

10/27/2012 1:43:29 AM

^^ I'm flattered (I think). One of our education systems greatest failings is our lack of focus on financial education.

10/27/2012 2:36:38 PM

Quote :

"One of our education systems greatest failings is our lack of focus on financial education"

Is the failing on purpose or accidental?

10/27/2012 4:11:29 PM

its all a conspiracy, they are doing it on purpose!

10/27/2012 5:02:28 PM