Citibank (NYSE: C) CEO Vikram Pandit says that he is not motivated by money, but rather by “Karmic fear.”
During an interview with the financial times, Pandit commented that his desire to do the “right thing” for the bank’s shareholders and its clients is based on his “Eastern upbringing.” Pandit commented that he believes that “if you don’t do right now, you will pay in the next life.”
Pandit was born in Nagpur, India to an affluent Maharashtrian family and is a practicing Hindu. Hinduism believes in the teaching of reincarnation and that one’s lot in their next life will be based off their behavior in the currently life. The faith teaches that individuals are caught in a cycle of birth, death, and re-birth and can find salvation from freeing themselves from the cycle of re-incarnation.
Regardless of Pandit’s motivation, he is setting a high-personal goal to turn around Citigroup, which is still 27% owned by U.S. taxpayers. Pandit, speaking at an investor conference, said that be believes Citibank’s core banking business can earn $20 billion by 2012, coming after two consecutive years of losses.
Pandit said that the bank will reach the $20 billion figure will be reached through its international retail, commercial banking and investment banking operations. He believes that revenue from these units can overcome losses from the $504 billion worth of toxic assets and complicated businesses which currently reside in Citi Holdings, a division that Citibank has placed non-core businesses in which it hoeps to sell.
