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The CEO of Citigroup’s consumer bank and the head of the bank’s Mexican franchise, Banamex, Manuel Medina-Mora will retire in June, according to internal memos seen by LatinFinance.
Medina-Mora, 64, will also step down from his role as regional head for Citi’s operations in Mexico and Latin America. He will leave his post as Banamex chairman, but he will remain on the bank’s board as a non-executive chairman.
“After careful consideration and with deep emotion, I have decided that it is the right time to retire from my role as co-president and CEO of Global Consumer Banking,” Medina-Mora wrote in an internal memo.
Citigroup will name a replacement in the “near future”, said CEO Mike Corbat in a second memo seen by LatinFinance.
Medina-Mora has led Citi’s consumer business for four years. During that time, the unit doubled its earnings to more than 40% of Citi’s revenue, Corbat wrote.
However, in October, Citigroup started pulling its consumer banking business from 11 countries, including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, and Peru, to cut losses.
His departure comes amid an ongoing investigation over $400m in loans to Pemex supplier Oceanografia against fraudulent invoices. Javier Arrigunaga stepped down as chief executive at Banamex in October and was replaced by Ernesto Torres Cantu, who will report directly to Corbat until a new chairman is named.
Medina-Mora joined Banamex in 1971, rising to the top through a nationalization and re-privatization of Banamex before Citigroup acquired the bank in 2001. LF