Citibank’s CEO and President Both Resign

President and COO John P. Havens has also resigned from his post.

Michael Corbat, a veteran CEO of the Middle East, Europe and Africa, will take over as the new CEO. He’s a graduate of Harvard and also worked at Salomon Brothers.

This comes as a major surprise even to employees at Citi, CNBC’s Kate Kelly reports, and the reason for Pandit’s resignation is unknown although WSJ is reporting that there were clashes with the board.

WSJ reported back in August that succession planning was under way at Citi, and that Corbat was a strong candidate, but even that report said a change was not imminent.

Furthermore, shock resignations like this (especially resigning that day) are just not usually done, and don’t inspire investor confidence.

Citi’s share price is down 2 percent on the news. Yesterday, the bank’s earnings beat expectations, so that just adds to the shock.

Pandit was, in general, a pretty controversial CEO. Former FDIC chair Sheila Bair was outspoken in her criticism of him as a leader in her book, “Bull by the Horns.” There have been internal problems as well. This year Citi’s shareholders voted against Pandit’s compensation package — not a good sign that your board has confidence that you’re doing the best job possible.

The press release is below and it includes a bio of Corbat so you can check that out below as well.

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Read the rest of the article here: Business Insider