From the category archives:

Citigroup

Did Citigroup’s Shareholders Have a Case of Flu, Too?

April 27, 2009

It is hard to imagine how the bank could have done any worse if Bernie Madoff had been on its board. There was sound and fury, but in the end it appeared to signify nothing.  At Citigroup’s annual meeting last week, not a single shareholder proposal for reform was adopted.  Every board/management nominee was returned.  Over [...]

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Vikram Pandit and the Importance of Good Timing

March 10, 2009

Our long held view, as the New York Post noted, is that much of what comes out of the Citigroup boardroom is too slow and too late.  Something of another installment in that department occurred today when CEO Vikram Pandit issued a memo to employees in which he said Citi has been profitable for the past [...]

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Citigroup at Pennies (Updated)

March 5, 2009

C itigroup’s common stock dropped below $1.00 this morning. A share of one of the most storied financial institutions in America, with a Dow Index moniker that straddles the globe, now trades in pennies. We have consistently predicted more surprises and greater mishaps as a result of a governance system that has failed to function [...]

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Outrage of the Week: The Madness that is Becoming Citigroup…

February 26, 2009

To say that one of the most storied banking names in the world has become a ward of the state is to diminish the extent of the reliance.  Citigroup has taken on the likeness of a crippled orphan in a Dickens classic, unable to stand on its own and unlikely to survive against the bitter [...]

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Reshuffling the Crew on the Citigroup Titanic

January 22, 2009

True to form for a company that has proven itself consistently too late and too slow, Citi’s board is now moving backwards with the choice of its new chairman, Richard D. Parsons.  Mr. Parsons is part of the old guard and has been a director since 1996.  He is among the crew that missed more [...]

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Outrage of the Week: The Two Americas

January 16, 2009

On one side, there are the quiet heroes who perform deeds of courage and generosity every day, often saving their fellow citizens from disaster. On the other, there are the overpaid CEOs at Citigroup and Bank of America who cannot even save their own companies from their misguided schemes and have made them financial wards [...]

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Two Faces of Governance at Citigroup

January 12, 2009

  The board says it continues to stand behind current management, led by CEO Vikram Pandit.  But can a board stand up while sleeping?   This is a question investors must ponder. If you are wondering how Citigroup could have lost tens of billions, seen the value of its stock pared by more than three-quarters, and [...]

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In the New York Post

November 25, 2008

Our comments about Citigroup’s hapless board of directors made their way into the New York Post today in a piece by business journalist Paul Tharp. Some of the observations first made here at Finlay ON Governance were reflected in the Post’s editorial, as well. The Post’s story got quite a lift, appearing in the headline [...]

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Outrage of the Week: Leadership Abdicated

November 21, 2008

It was a week that illustrated how not to be a leader. The CEOs of the big three auto makers appeared before the United States Congress, and showed a level of ill preparedness on even rudimentary questions about their bailout pleas that would have incurred the ire of a fifth grade teacher.  Their separate arrivals in three [...]

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