Citigroup (NYSE:C) has relieved Teresa Dial as head of their retail banking division in North America with Manuel Medina-Mora. Dial used to work as a retail banker for Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) and Lloyds of London (LLOY.LN). Dial was the first outside banker hired by Vikram Pandit when he took over Citigroup at the end of 2007.
Although Dial had success in consumer banking, especially for Lloyds, where she helped turn things around, her management skills had been questioned several months ago by an outside review, as well as her seeming inability to communicate a direction for the division during the economic and banking crisis.
She is evidently the victim of a review of U.S. government regulators, who after the outside review didn’t feel her skills were up for the job, which seems to have put some pressure on management to have her step down.
The new title held by Manuel Medina-Mora is CEO of Citi Consumer Banking for the Americas. Medina-Mora will keep his existing responsibilities as head of the retail and commercial banking businesses in Latin American, which has been merged with his other responsibilities.
Along with the consumer business, he will also manage the credit and debit card businesses branded under Citi, as well as the commercial banks in North and South America.
As far as the stated reason for Dial leaving, it was asserted by Citigroup that it was for “personal reasons,” and Dial will remain with the company as a senior advisor.
Citigroup added that under Dial’s leadership the company did increase its pace of the growth of its deposits, managed its costs better, and improved the results in its cross selling strategy.
Most industry watchers know the North American market isn’t going to be much of a growth market going forward, and in spite of the conclusions of the outside study concerning Dial, this was probably more of a nod toward the international experience of Medina-Mora by Citigroup rather than a response to what the government thought of her.
Even though he will primarily work in the United States and Mexico, he will also work with consumer markets globally, making his task a formidable one indeed, taking into account the enormous differences from country to country and among various regions and cultures.
Assuming he’s up to the task, Medina-Mora could be a definite feather in the cap of Citigroup, and help them strengthen themselves in the global consumer markets going forward, something it looks like Dial wasn’t prepared or trained for.
