Vikram Pandit steps down as Citigroup CEO

Vikram Pandit has stepped down as CEO of Citigroup after steering the bank through the choppy years following the 2008 financial crisis .

The change is effective immediately. Pandit will also relinquish his seat on Citi's board of directors.

Pandit, 55, said in a statement: "Now is the right time for someone else to take the helm at Citigroup" after the bank "emerged from the financial crisis as a strong institution."

Pandit's replacement as CEO is Michael Corbat, the current CEO of Citigroup's Europe, Middle East and Africa division, the bank said.

Corbat has worked at Citigroup and its predecessors since he graduated from Harvard in 1983, the company said.

A second top executive also resigned as part of the shake-up: President and Chief Operating Officer John Havens, who also serves as CEO of Citi's Institutional Client Group.

Pandit joined Citigroup in 2007 when the hedge fund he founded was acquired by the bank. He quickly rose to CEO in December 2007. Earlier, he had ascended to head investment banking at Morgan Stanley before leaving in 2005 to form the hedge fund.

A native of India, Pandit attended Columbia University at 16 and completed a bachelor's degree in three years. He earned a doctorate in finance in 1986.

Pandit faced harsh criticism after Citigroup took $45 billion in government bailout money in the 2008 credit crisis. It is widely believed that other, stronger banks were forced to take billions in bailout money to divert attention from Citigroup, whose financial situation was more precarious.

The US Treasury sold the last of its stake in the company in December 2010.

Citigroup announced its third-quarter earnings on Monday that beat expectations after stripping out one-time items like a big write-down the bank had to take because it got less money than it had hoped when it negotiated to sell its stake in its retail brokerage.

Investors were pleased with the results and sent the stock up more than 5 per cent on Monday, rising $1.91 to close at $36.66.

With inputs from Associated Press