For the first time in its history, a major Wall Street bank will have a female at its helm.
Citigroup (C) announced on Thursday that current CEO Micahel Corbat will retire after 37 years with the bank, stepping down from his role in February 2021. His successor will be Jane Fraser, the current CEO of Citi’s consumer banking business and a consumer lending veteran.
Fraser, who’s been with the firm for 16 years, was also tapped to join the board of directors, effective immediately, and is now poised to make history as the bank’s first female chief — and the first to lead a bulge bracket bank.
The banking veteran holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a master’s degree in economics from Cambridge University.
“I have worked with Jane for many years and am proud to have her succeed me. With her leadership, experience and values, I know she will make an outstanding CEO,” Corbat said in a statement.
John Dugan, the chair of the board, added that “Jane is the right person to build on Mike’s record and take Citi to the next level. She has deep experience across our lines of business and regions and we are highly confident in her. Jane’s ability to think strategically and also operate a business are a unique combination that will serve our company well.”
In her current role, Fraser looks after the consumer business in 19 countries, including retail and wealth management, credit cards, mortgages, and operations, and technology. She previously served as CEO of Citi’s Latin American region from 2015 to 2019.
Before that, she was the CEO of the U.S. Consumer and Commercial Banking and CitiMortgage between 2013 and 2015. From 2009 to 2013, she led Citi’s Private Bank as CEO, and had a stint on Citi’s mergers and acquisitions team from 2007 to 2009.
She began her career at Citi in 2004 in corporate and investment banking, and has worked as a partner at McKinsey & Company. She started on Wall Street at Goldman Sachs in its M&A department in London.
Julia La Roche is a Correspondent for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter.