Citi CFO Mason to step down after CEO Fraser’s power consolidation

56-year old Mason will hand his role to Gonzalo Luchetti, the head of Citi’s US consumer bank, by early March, according to a wider management reshuffling announcement on Thursday. Mason will leave the bank at the end of next year.

“I feel a deep sense of pride in the role I played to reorient our strategy to deliver enhanced shareholder returns and in helping the firm build a track record of delivering on the commitments we have made,” Mason said in a press release statement.

Citi will also split up its US consumer bank—moving its retail banking unit under its newer wealth division led by top lieutenant Andy Sieg who joined in September 2023. The bank’s credit card portfolio and retail services business will remain as a standalone division under current head of credit cards, Pam Habner.

58 year old Mason has worked for Citi for 25 years and served as CFO since 2019. He’s also nearly the same age as Fraser who has recently been granted even more reasons to remain in her role after Citi’s directors voted to make her board chair.

“Mark has been an invaluable partner to me as we made progress delivering on our Transformation, strengthening our performance and ensuring a focus on shareholder returns,” Fraser wrote in a note to staff seen by Yahoo Finance. “While he has navigated the firm expertly through market disruptions and challenging times, his legacy as CFO will be defined by positioning Citi for the years ahead.”

The reshuffling moves comes at a critical juncture. Citi has made multiple moves over the years to improve its performance under Fraser. That effort has included shrinking and simplifying management layers across the bank by slowly unwinding pieces of the international bank’s empire and eliminating layers of corporate bloat. The end game: boosting Citi’s stock price after over a decade of mishaps and underperformance compared to rivals.

The bank was fined last year for $135 million by regulators for slow progress in improving its data management, quality and risk infrastructure. Those deficiencies date back to a 2020 consent order from regulators that called for Citi to overhaul its data and risk systems.

The bank has also suffered some specific public transaction blunders. Known as ‘fat fingers’, these errors have included mistakenly wiring $900 million to creditors of makeup company Revlon, which initiated a to-year legal fight.

To make good on that vow to investors, Citi has promised to hit a key threshold for bank profitability known as return on tangible common equity (ROTCE).

The bank still hasn’t gotten there yet but has laid plans to out reach the market next year. It posted a ROTCE of 8% as of the end of September after bumping the threshold down from 11% to 12% to 10% to 11% earlier this year.

In the staff memo, Fraser said that Mason’s transition won’t have any bearing on whether the bank can hit the profitability target.

“We are confident that we’ll achieve our return target next year.” She told staff. “As we prepare for our next stage of growth, Mark told me that he believes this is the best time to begin the process of putting our next CFO in place.”

Investors and Citi’s board of directors have already rewarded the bank and its top boss. Citigroup’s stock rose slightly early Friday. It has climbed 39% since the beginning of January, setting it on pace to give investors the best yearly gain among US banking giants for 2025.

Its board of directors voted last month to make 58-year old Fraser its chair. That vote signaled both a major vote of confidence for Fraser’s leadership and a consolidation of her power. For close to 20 years up to then, the bank had kept the CEO and board chair positions separate.

Fraser’s promotion and award last month also came with a $25 million bonus in stock and other options that won’t fully vest for five years, a move seen as a push to retain Fraser.

David Hollerith covers the financial sector, ranging from the country’s biggest banks to regional lenders, private equity firms, and the cryptocurrency space.

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