FDIC Pushes Purge At Citi
知情人士说，美国联邦存款保险公司(Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.)正在推动花旗集团(Citigroup Inc.)高级管理层的改组，这将危及到首席执行长潘伟迪(Vikram Pandit)的职位。在主席拜尔(Sheila Bair)的领导下，联邦存款保险公司最近还给另外一个监管机构施压，要求降低政府对花旗集团财富的保密级别，此举可能会让监管机构更加严格地控制这家公司。联邦存款保险公司对美国最大也是陷入困境程度最深的金融机构之一采取越来越强硬立场的意愿已经引发了监管机构之间以及它与花旗之间的冲突。一些监管机构并不同意联邦存款保险公司的立场；花旗集团的一些管理人士称，拜尔已经越权。花旗首席财务长凯利(Ned Kelly)说，除了美国财政部金融局(Office of the Comptroller of the Currency)和美国联邦储备委员会(Federal Reserve)之外，联邦存款保险公司是我们的第三个监管者。花旗集团已采取措施进行瘦身，并清理财务上的混乱状况。就在上个月，花旗在美联储对大型银行进行的压力测试中的表现要好于预期。不过，一些政府官员对花旗的改革步伐感到不快。联邦存款保险公司的官员尤其对缺乏拥有商业银行经验的高级管理人员感到担忧。潘伟迪本人来自投资银行业，但这家银行目前的大多数问题都来自于陷入困境的消费贷款领域。据知情人士说，联邦官员同不久前进入花旗董事会的前U.S. Bancorp首席执行长格兰德霍夫(Jerry Grundhofer)进行了接触，了解他对担任最高职位的兴趣。格兰德霍夫因率领U.S. Bancorp实现盈利，同时避免了让花旗等许多银行遭受重创的风险贷款而受到了普遍的赞誉。格兰德霍夫没有回复记者的采访电话。继去年非同寻常地用至少450亿美元纳税人的资金对花旗集团进行救助之后，花旗集团的困境多次在政府内部引起冲突。经过计划中的转股后，纳税人将持有花旗高达34%的股份。预计在6月中旬，奥巴马政府就将对金融监管做出重大改革。包括联邦存款保险公司在内的一些监管机构有望赢得更多权力，一些则可能会失去权力。联邦存款保险公司的影响力在过去一年里不断上升，因为拜尔渴望挑战她的同行，同时也因为她的机构在应对金融危机中发挥的核心作用。拜尔比她的许多同事都更早地对房地产危机发出了警告。联邦存款保险公司以往在管理一家大公司方面并不是这么强硬。但拜尔领导下的联邦存款保险公司在花旗集团上存在着大量风险。联邦存款保险公司正在协助提供资金，为花旗集团大约3,000亿美元的资产分担损失。联邦存款保险公司还为花旗集团在美国的很多银行存款提供了保险。据金融数据提供商Dealogic统计，去年12月以来，花旗集团发行了将近400亿美元由联邦存款保险公司提供担保的债券。一些政府官员认为，应该给于花旗集团更多的时间实施新资本计划，但目前还不清楚最后哪家监管机构的观点最后会占据上风，因为花旗集团依靠着金额巨大的联邦资金救助。自2007年底以来，花旗集团遭遇了超过500亿美元的资产冲销和贷款违约。花旗的财务状况明显比很多同行都要糟糕，最近不少银行都筹集到了数十亿美元的新资本。在最近对全美19家最大银行进行的压力测试中，美联储预计，按照政府对经济做出的最糟糕假定，花旗集团2010年可能面临着至多1,047亿美元的贷款损失。压力测试认定，花旗集团可能面临着将近200亿美元的巨额信用卡投资组合损失，不断增加的违约事件给这一业务带来了沉重压力。不过，美联储认为花旗集团只需要增加55亿美元就能抵御不断恶化的经济环境，这一结论令很多投资者和分析师感到惊讶，他们担心花旗集团可能面临更为严重的资金缺口。去年在联邦监管部门的压力下，潘伟迪同意对花旗进行调整，意在削减公司规模，剥离风险资产。这些调整举措包括了将旗下Smith Barney经纪部门分拆，然后与摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)组建一个合资企业。据知情人士透露，一些联邦官员已经告诉花旗集团，他们仍然担忧花旗未能足够迅速地出售不想要的资产，如果金融市场动荡烽烟再起，这些资产的问题可能会再次困扰花旗。潘伟迪及其支持者认为，花旗集团的混乱问题不应该归咎于潘伟迪，他已经采取了重要举措来稳定公司局面了。花旗集团董事长帕森斯(Richard Parsons)发表声明说，我们经历了严格的压力测试程序，测试的结果得到了适当监管机构的认同，清楚地反映了当前管理层过去15个月在扭转花旗业务方面取得的显著进步。帕森斯说，花旗正在按部就班地进入全球资本状况最佳的银行之列。自2007年12月出任花旗集团首席执行长以来，现年52岁的潘伟迪已经采取了诸多措施，加强了公司的风险管理机制，筹集了新资本并出售了资产。但在他就职的第一年，潘伟迪坚称花旗的业务模式基本稳健。Damian Paletta / David Enrich相关阅读原声视频：通用汽车花旗集团作别道指成份股 2009-06-03花旗和摩根士丹利完成组建合资公司的交易 2009-06-02花旗与美国银行也将提薪？ 2009-05-27花旗集团潘伟迪：对花旗财务健康的质疑应已消除 2009-05-08花旗可能需再筹资至多100亿美元 2009-05-04 本文涉及股票或公司document.write (truthmeter('2009年06月05日14:25', 'C'));花旗集团英文名称：Citigroup Inc.总部地点：美国上市地点：纽约证交所股票代码：C
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is pushing for a shake-up of Citigroup Inc.'s top management, imperiling Chief Executive Vikram Pandit, people familiar with the matter said.The FDIC, under Chairman Sheila Bair, also recently pressed a fellow regulator to lower the government's confidential ranking of Citi's health -- a change that would let regulators control the firm more tightly.The FDIC's willingness to take an increasingly tough position toward one of the nation's largest and most troubled financial institutions is setting up a bitter clash between regulators -- some of whom disagree with the FDIC's position -- and between the FDIC and Citigroup, whose officials have argued that Ms. Bair is overstepping her authority.'The FDIC is our tertiary regulator,' behind the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve, said Ned Kelly, Citigroup's chief financial officer.Citigroup has taken steps to shrink itself and clean up its financial mess. Just last month, the bank performed better than expected on the Federal Reserve's 'stress test' of top banks' strength.Still, some officials across the government are frustrated at the company's pace of change. FDIC officials in particular are concerned about the lack of senior executives with experience in commercial banking. Mr. Pandit himself comes from an investment-banking background, but most of the bank's current problems stem from troubled consumer loans.Federal officials have reached out to Jerry Grundhofer, the former U.S. Bancorp CEO who recently joined Citigroup's board, to gauge his interest in the top job, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Grundhofer, who didn't return calls seeking comment, is well-regarded in the industry for steering U.S. Bancorp to profitability while avoiding the risky lending that hurt Citigroup and many other banks.Citigroup's woes have set off repeated clashes within the government following last year's extraordinary effort to recapitalize the bank with at least $45 billion in taxpayer money. After a planned share conversion, taxpayers will own up to 34% of the company.The FDIC's aggressive stance comes just ahead of the Obama administration's big revamp of financial oversight, which is expected in mid-June. Several regulators, including the FDIC, are hoping to win additional powers, and some may end up losing authority.The FDIC's influence has grown in the past year because of Ms. Bair's willingness to challenge her peers, as well as her agency's central role responding to the financial crisis. Ms. Bair warned about the housing crisis before many of her colleagues.The FDIC traditionally hasn't been nearly as assertive in management of a large firm. But Ms. Bair's agency is heavily exposed to Citigroup. The FDIC is helping finance a roughly $300 billion loss-sharing agreement with the company.It also insures many of Citigroup's U.S. bank deposits. Citigroup has issued nearly $40 billion in FDIC-backed debt since December, according to Dealogic, a financial-data provider.Some government officials believe that Citigroup should be given more time to implement its new capital plan, but it is unclear which regulator might ultimately prevail because the bank depends on large amounts of federal aid.Since late 2007, Citigroup has had more than $50 billion in write-downs and loan defaults. It's in substantially worse shape than many of its peers, many of whom have been able to raise billions of dollars in fresh capital recently.The Fed, in its recent stress tests of the nation's 19 largest banks, estimated that Citigroup could face up to $104.7 billion in loan losses through 2010 under the government's worst-case economic scenario. The test found that Citigroup could face nearly $20 billion in losses in its huge credit-card portfolio, which is suffering from rising defaults.However, the Fed's conclusion that Citigroup needed to beef up its capital by only $5.5 billion to withstand a deteriorating economic environment surprised many investors and analysts, who feared the company faced a much steeper shortfall.Last year, under pressure from federal regulators, Mr. Pandit agreed to make changes aimed at slimming down the financial giant and shedding risky assets. These included a spinoff of the company's Smith Barney brokerage arm into a joint venture with Morgan Stanley.Some federal officials have told Citigroup they remain worried that the firm hasn't sold off unwanted assets quickly enough, which could come back to haunt the company if financial-market turmoil flares up again, according to people familiar with the matter.Mr. Pandit and his allies argue he isn't to blame for Citigroup's mess and that he has taken major steps to stabilize the company.'We went through a rigorous stress-test process, the results of which were agreed to by appropriate regulatory agencies and clearly reflect the significant progress made by this management team over the last 15 months to turn Citi around,' said Richard Parsons, the firm's chairman, in a statement.He said the firm is on track to be 'among the best-capitalized banks in the world.'Since becoming CEO in December 2007, the 52-year-old Mr. Pandit has beefed up Citigroup's risk-management apparatus, raised new capital and sold assets. But for his first year on the job, Mr. Pandit insisted Citigroup's business model was basically sound.Damian Paletta / David Enrich
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is pushing for a shake-up of Citigroup Inc.'s top management, imperiling Chief Executive Vikram Pandit, people familiar with the matter said.The FDIC, under Chairman Sheila Bair, also recently pressed a fellow regulator to lower the government's confidential ranking of Citi's health -- a change that would let regulators control the firm more tightly.The FDIC's willingness to take an increasingly tough position toward one of the nation's largest and most troubled financial institutions is setting up a bitter clash between regulators -- some of whom disagree with the FDIC's position -- and between the FDIC and Citigroup, whose officials have argued that Ms. Bair is overstepping her authority.'The FDIC is our tertiary regulator,' behind the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve, said Ned Kelly, Citigroup's chief financial officer.Citigroup has taken steps to shrink itself and clean up its financial mess. Just last month, the bank performed better than expected on the Federal Reserve's 'stress test' of top banks' strength.Still, some officials across the government are frustrated at the company's pace of change. FDIC officials in particular are concerned about the lack of senior executives with experience in commercial banking. Mr. Pandit himself comes from an investment-banking background, but most of the bank's current problems stem from troubled consumer loans.Federal officials have reached out to Jerry Grundhofer, the former U.S. Bancorp CEO who recently joined Citigroup's board, to gauge his interest in the top job, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Grundhofer, who didn't return calls seeking comment, is well-regarded in the industry for steering U.S. Bancorp to profitability while avoiding the risky lending that hurt Citigroup and many other banks.Citigroup's woes have set off repeated clashes within the government following last year's extraordinary effort to recapitalize the bank with at least $45 billion in taxpayer money. After a planned share conversion, taxpayers will own up to 34% of the company.The FDIC's aggressive stance comes just ahead of the Obama administration's big revamp of financial oversight, which is expected in mid-June. Several regulators, including the FDIC, are hoping to win additional powers, and some may end up losing authority.The FDIC's influence has grown in the past year because of Ms. Bair's willingness to challenge her peers, as well as her agency's central role responding to the financial crisis. Ms. Bair warned about the housing crisis before many of her colleagues.The FDIC traditionally hasn't been nearly as assertive in management of a large firm. But Ms. Bair's agency is heavily exposed to Citigroup. The FDIC is helping finance a roughly $300 billion loss-sharing agreement with the company.It also insures many of Citigroup's U.S. bank deposits. Citigroup has issued nearly $40 billion in FDIC-backed debt since December, according to Dealogic, a financial-data provider.Some government officials believe that Citigroup should be given more time to implement its new capital plan, but it is unclear which regulator might ultimately prevail because the bank depends on large amounts of federal aid.Since late 2007, Citigroup has had more than $50 billion in write-downs and loan defaults. It's in substantially worse shape than many of its peers, many of whom have been able to raise billions of dollars in fresh capital recently.The Fed, in its recent stress tests of the nation's 19 largest banks, estimated that Citigroup could face up to $104.7 billion in loan losses through 2010 under the government's worst-case economic scenario. The test found that Citigroup could face nearly $20 billion in losses in its huge credit-card portfolio, which is suffering from rising defaults.However, the Fed's conclusion that Citigroup needed to beef up its capital by only $5.5 billion to withstand a deteriorating economic environment surprised many investors and analysts, who feared the company faced a much steeper shortfall.Last year, under pressure from federal regulators, Mr. Pandit agreed to make changes aimed at slimming down the financial giant and shedding risky assets. These included a spinoff of the company's Smith Barney brokerage arm into a joint venture with Morgan Stanley.Some federal officials have told Citigroup they remain worried that the firm hasn't sold off unwanted assets quickly enough, which could come back to haunt the company if financial-market turmoil flares up again, according to people familiar with the matter.Mr. Pandit and his allies argue he isn't to blame for Citigroup's mess and that he has taken major steps to stabilize the company.'We went through a rigorous stress-test process, the results of which were agreed to by appropriate regulatory agencies and clearly reflect the significant progress made by this management team over the last 15 months to turn Citi around,' said Richard Parsons, the firm's chairman, in a statement.He said the firm is on track to be 'among the best-capitalized banks in the world.'Since becoming CEO in December 2007, the 52-year-old Mr. Pandit has beefed up Citigroup's risk-management apparatus, raised new capital and sold assets. But for his first year on the job, Mr. Pandit insisted Citigroup's business model was basically sound.Damian Paletta / David Enrich