Prince on trial

摘要

Charles prince has not had an easy time atop Citigroup. Since he became chief executive two years ago, America's biggest bank has paid out billions of dollars in legal settlements and the Federal Reserve would like it to improve its internal controls before making acquisitions. Mr Prince has also had to cope with the presence of his controversial predecessor, Sandy Weill, now chairman. It is never nice to be the head of the clean-up crew. Things aren't getting easier. In the past week, Citigroup has been dealt three blows. First, its president, Robert Willum-stad, one of Mr Weill's last remaining lieutenants, resigned. Second came poor second-quarter figures, on July 18th. And third, it seems there may be something worse than Mr Weill's hanging around: his going. It has been reported that Mr Weill wants to bail out as chairman, in order to form a private-equity group. The earnings report and the news of Mr Weill took Citi-group's share price, no star performer on Mr Prince's watch, down by more than 4% at the start of this week.