Medina-Mora Steady in Citi Shuffle

Manuel Medina-Mora keeps his role as LatAm head and former regional DCM head Mike Corbat moves up as part of a Citi reorganization announced Tuesday by CEO Vikram Pandit. Citi was split into two parts in a bid to salvage the strongest elements of the franchise. Citicorp includes assets that the bank wants to keep. This includes LatAm, Asia, EMEA and North America, as well as global transaction services, the corporate and investment bank and the private bank. Citi Holdings – what analysts are calling “the bad bank” – includes brokerage and asset management, local consumer finance, and the special asset pool, all units that Citi is looking to divest. It will be run on an interim basis by Corbat. The former global head of commercial and corporate banking worked his way up from head of LatAm DCM at the start of the decade, through leadership of Citi’s EM platform. Citi says it is not looking to sell any part of the LatAm franchise, least of all its lucrative Banamex unit. However, bankers at other shops say Mexican financiers are mulling a bid, and that Citi would be forced to sell if its financial situation deteriorates, or if it is bought by the US government. Citicorp has 6% of its assets and 9% of its average loans in LatAm. The Citi reorg unveiled this week is an attempt to stop the rot and return the beleaguered shop to profitability. The bank’s stock jumped on news of the global revamp and closed 6.6% higher at $3.55 Tuesday. (For an exclusive interview with Manuel Medina-Mora, including comment on the future of Citi-Banamex, see www.latinfinance.com)