Jud Linville who is the current head of global cards and consumers services will be leaving Citigroup as part of a restructuring. There is no direct replacement for Linville but David Chubak will become the head of retail banking and consumer lending globally. Anand Selva will become the head of US consumer banking. A key reason for this structuring is the failure of Citi to meet their own goals when it comes to Citi-branded cards in the United states. In July 2017 they set a goal of 3% annualized revenue growth, earlier this year this was then downgraded to 2%.
Readers of this blog will be particularly interested in this restructuring based on the fact that in October of 2017 a Reuters report stated:
On Thursday, a Citigroup executive said that after JPMorgan’s move Citi changed course and turned its marketing toward no-fee cards that offer free borrowing for as long 21 months instead of travel rewards.
“We shifted our focus away from rewards because of the competitive heat,” Citigroup Chief Financial Officer John Gerspach said in a conference call with reporters after posting quarterly results.
It seems that Citi is set on refreshing their whole suite of credit card products, with a refresh of the Citi Prestige likely imminent. Hopefully this restructuring is a sign of Citi moving their focus away from introductory APR offers and onto rewards based cards with big bonuses and benefits.
Hat tip to reader luvcsp
