Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin is stepping down from his role at Citigroup Inc.

Citigroup announced Friday that Rubin has retired as senior counselor effective immediately and has decided not to stand for re-election as a director at Citigroup’s annual meeting. He will continue to serve as a director until his current term expires at the next annual meeting.

In his resignation letter to CEO, Vikram Pandit, Rubin said, “The last 18 months have been very difficult throughout the financial system, and this has had serious consequences for the employees and stockholders of Citi and affected the people of our country and in countries around the globe. My great regret is that I and so many of us who have been involved in this industry for so long did not recognize the serious possibility of the extreme circumstances that the financial system faces today. Clearly, there is a great deal of work that needs to go into understanding exactly what led to this situation and what changes, regulatory and otherwise, must now be implemented to reduce systemic risk and protect consumers.”

Upon leaving the firm, Rubin said that he intends to focus on public policy work. “This is not a decision that I have come to lightly,” Rubin said. “But as I enter my 70’s and with all that is now in place at Citi, I believe the time has come for me to make these changes. Rubin joined Citigroup in October 1999 after serving as Treasury secretary under president Bill Clinton.

IE