Citigroup announced that Jane Fraser would succeed Michael Corbat as the bank’s next chief executive, making Fraser the first woman to ever lead a Wall Street bank.
Fraser is currently head of Citi’s global consumer banking division, a major part of the bank that includes checking and savings accounts but also Citi’s massive credit card business. She’s been with Citi for 16 years.
Fraser will be the first woman to lead one of Wall Street’s big six banks. JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon has had women as his second-in-command for years, but shows no signs of stepping down from the CEO role.
Corbat led Citigroup for eight years, rebuilding the company after it nearly collapsed during the Great Recession and 2008 financial crisis. The federal government had to step in to buy a stake in Citi to keep it afloat, and the New York bank had some of the most toxic assets of all the major banks during this time.
Corbat turned Citi into a much smaller and stable entity, focusing on its credit card businesses and its international banking franchise.