Jane Fraser (born 13 July 1967) is a British-American banking executive who is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Citigroup, a position she has held since March 2021.[1][2] Educated at Girton College, Cambridge, and Harvard Business School, she worked at McKinsey & Company for 10 years, rising to partner prior to joining Citigroup in 2004. In 2019, she was named president of Citigroup and CEO of its consumer banking division.[3]
Jane Fraser | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Fraser in 2021 | |
| Born | 13 July 1967 St Andrews, Scotland, UK |
| Nationality | British (Scottish), American |
| Education | Girton College, Cambridge (MA) Harvard University (MBA) |
| Occupation | CEO of Citigroup |
| Predecessor | Michael Corbat |
| Children | 2 |
| Notes | |
Photograph of Jane Fraser is by Peter Olson (OlsonCorp.Com) | |
In September 2020, Citigroup announced that she would replace Michael Corbat as CEO of Citigroup Inc. in February 2021, becoming the first woman to head a major U.S. bank.[4][5] She was included on Fortune's "Most Powerful Women in Business" list in 2014 and 2015 and has been called the "Number 1 Woman to Watch" for two consecutive years by American Banker. She was Forbes' 7th most powerful woman in the world for 2023.[6] She currently serves as a member of the President's Export Council.[7]
Early life and education
editJane Fraser was born on 13 July 1967 in St Andrews, Scotland.[8][9] She attended Girton College, Cambridge, from 1985 to 1988, graduating with a BA (promoted to an MA per tradition) in economics.[10][11]
After graduation, she worked as a mergers and acquisitions analyst at Goldman Sachs, London, from July 1988 to July 1990, then as a brokerage associate for Asesores Bursátiles, a Madrid-based securities broker, from August 1990 to June 1992.[10][12] In 1992, she enrolled at Harvard Business School, earning her MBA in 1994.[10]
McKinsey & Company
editBeing a mother of young children and having a career is the toughest thing I have ever had to do. You are exhausted, guilty, and you must learn how to do things differently. It was the making of me because I became much more 80-20 – focusing on what was really important – got good at saying no, and also became more human to the clients who also face many of these issues too.
Jane Fraser[13]
In 1994, Fraser joined McKinsey & Company, working in financial services and global strategy, eventually rising to partner.[10] For the first six years, she worked in New York, and for the last four years in London.[8] Fraser worked part-time while raising her young children.[13]
Fraser wrote articles on globalization and was a co-author, with three other McKinsey employees, of the 1999 book Race for the World: Strategies to Build a Great Global Firm.[12][14] The book hailed Citi as a model for “leveraging superior business-system productivity costs in different geographies.”[15] As part of Fraser's research for the book, she traveled to China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore and India to interview McKinsey clients about their global challenges.[13] After hearing Fraser speak about the book, Citigroup executive Michael Klein spent several years encouraging her to make the move to Citigroup, which she eventually did in 2004.[16]
Citigroup
editFraser was hired as Head of Client Strategy in Citigroup's investment and global banking division in July 2004.[8][16] In October 2007, she was promoted to Global Head of Strategy and Mergers and Acquisitions, a position she held until May 2009.[13] Her tenure as Global Head coincided with the financial crisis of 2007–2009, and she was part of the executive team that was "charged with restructuring the group, leading its re-engineering effort, making divestments and raising new capital."[8]
In June 2009, she was named CEO of Citi Private Bank.[16] At the time of her promotion, the bank was running an annual deficit of approximately $250 million; it returned to the black during her four-year tenure.[17] Among the changes she implemented were a decrease in the ratio of private bankers to clients, with a target of one banker for every 30 clients, and the removal of commissions and sales formulas for bankers in favor of a year-end discretionary bonus.[8]
In May 2013, she was asked to replace the retiring CEO of CitiMortgage. Though she knew the move was a career risk, she accepted the challenge.[17] Her stewardship of Citigroup's mortgage division coincided with the marketwide drop in demand for mortgage refinancing, forcing the bank to refocus its efforts on selling residential mortgages to home buyers. Citigroup closed several mortgage offices nationwide and laid off 1,000 employees in September 2013 alone.[18]
Less than a year later, in March 2014, Fraser was promoted to CEO of US Consumer and Commercial Banking, succeeding Cecelia Stewart, who announced her retirement.[19] And in April 2015, she was named CEO of Citigroup Latin America,[20] with responsibility for operations in 24 countries.[21] The latter promotion followed a reshuffling of Citigroup executives, sparked by the retirement of Manuel Medina-Mora, CEO of Citigroup's global consumer bank.[22] Medina-Mora was replaced by Stephen Bird, former CEO for the Asia-Pacific region, who in turn was replaced by Francisco Aristeguieta, former CEO of Citigroup Latin America.[23] While based in Miami,[22][23] Fraser has been tasked with, among other things, "instilling a more U.S.-like culture" at Banamex (Banco Nacional de México), owned and operated by Citigroup since 2001.[21] The bank was fined $2.2 million on fraud charges in 2014.[23] The head of Banamex, Ernesto Torres Cantu, reports directly to Fraser.[22][23]
In October 2019, Fraser was appointed President of Citigroup and Head of Global Consumer Banking (GCB), and was responsible for all of Citi’s Consumer businesses, including Retail Banking and Wealth Management, Credit Cards, Mortgage and Operations and Technology in 19 markets.[24][25]
Promotion to CEO and tenure
editIn September 2020, Citigroup announced its CEO Michael Corbat's retirement, to be effective in February 2021. Fraser was appointed to succeed Corbat, becoming the first female CEO of a top-tier Wall Street Investment Bank,[26][27] leading the third-largest bank in the U.S.[4] Fraser has taken an approach to work during the COVID-19 pandemic that differs from peer CEOs, instituting permanent plans to allow staff to work from home some days of the week and granting staff greater flexibility in their schedules than other Wall Street firms.[28] She has cited differentiating Citigroup from other bulge bracket banks such as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase during recruiting as a motivation for this approach.[28]
Fraser was scheduled to speak at the November 2022 Global Financial Leaders' Investment Summit, with the Hong Kong Democracy Council claiming that her presence, along with other financial executives, would legitimize the Hong Kong government's whitewashing of the erosion of freedoms in the city.[29] However, Fraser tested positive for COVID and did not show up for the summit.[30]
Memberships
editFraser is Vice Chair for Partnership for New York City and a member of the Harvard Business School’s Board of Dean’s Advisors, the Stanford Global Advisory Board, the Economic Club of New York and the Council on Foreign Relations.[25] Fraser has led the Citi Operations team since 2021.[31][32][33] She was also a member of the board of the Touch Foundation from 2006 to 2015.[10]
Honours and recognition
editIn 2015, Fraser was ranked number 41 on Fortune's list of the 51 Most Powerful Women in Business,[20] up from number 48 on the 2014 list.[34] American Banker named her the "Number 1 Woman to Watch" both in 2014[17] and 2015.[21]
Fraser was selected for the inaugural 2021 Forbes 50 Over 50; made up of entrepreneurs, leaders, scientists and creators who are over the age of 50.[35]
Fraser was ranked 4th on Fortune's list of Most Powerful Women in 2023.[36]
Personal life
editFraser is married and the mother of two sons.[16][12] Her husband Alberto Piedra,[37] a former banker and native of Cuba,[8] left his job as a bank manager in Europe during the financial crisis of 2008 to spend more time caring for their young children.[38] In June 2015, Fraser appeared on a CBS Local report about Citi Global Community Day, in which she and other volunteers spruced up the Liberty Square public housing project in Miami.[39]
In April 2021, during her first televised interview as CEO of Citigroup (on CNBC), Fraser disclosed that despite the [British] accent, she had "been a proud American [citizen] for the last 20 years".[40]
In May 26, 2021, during a congressional testimony before the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Fraser noted in her opening remarks as CEO of Citigroup, that she first arrived in the United States in 1987, before becoming a U.S. citizen in 2001.[41][42][43]
References
edit- ^ Baer, Justin. "The Clock Is Ticking on Jane Fraser's Citigroup Turnaround". The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ "The Next List". CNBC. 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
- ^ Cosgrove, Elly (24 October 2019). "Citi names Jane Fraser president, positioning her as possible successor to CEO Michael Corbat". CNBC. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
- ^ a b Benoit, David (28 February 2021). "Jane Fraser Is Hitting Refresh at Citigroup". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
- ^ de la Merced, Michael J.; Flitter, Emily (10 September 2020). "Citigroup's Fraser to Be First Woman to Lead a Big Wall Street Bank". New York Times. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
- ^ "The World's Most Powerful Women 2023". Forbes. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
- ^ "President's Export Council Members". International Trade Administration. 2024. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f "Earning Back Clients' Trust". The Business Times. 2 November 2010. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
- ^ "Birthdays". The Sunday Times. 13 July 2024.
- ^ a b c d e "Jane Fraser". LinkedIn. 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Bryan et al. 1999, p. 363.
- ^ a b c "Jane Fraser". Citigroup. 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
- ^ a b c d "Spotlight On: Jane Fraser". McKinsey & Company. 12 June 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
- ^ Bryan et al. 1999.
- ^ Baer, Justin. "The Clock Is Ticking on Jane Fraser's Citigroup Turnaround". The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ a b c d Ring, Niamh (1 October 2009). "3) Jane Fraser (The 25 Women To Watch)(Occupation overview)". US Banker. Archived from the original on 20 February 2016. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
- ^ a b c Kline, Alan (22 September 2014). "Citi's Jane Fraser: The No. 1 Woman to Watch for 2014". American Banker. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
- ^ Brown, Lisa (22 February 2014). "Mortgage companies regroup as refinancings fall". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
- ^ Campbell, Dakin (6 March 2014). "Citigroup Names Fraser U.S. Consumer Bank Head Amid Exits". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
- ^ a b "The Most Powerful Women in Business". Fortune. 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
- ^ a b c "Citi's Jane Fraser: The No. 1 Woman to Watch for 2015". American Banker. 22 September 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
- ^ a b c Bray, Chad (14 April 2015). "Citigroup Names New Head of Consumer Bank in Management Shuffle". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
- ^ a b c d Peters, Andy (13 April 2015). "Citi Taps Asia-Pacific Chief to Lead Global Consumer Bank". American Banker. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
- ^ "Jane Fraser Named President of Citi and Head of Global Consumer Banking" (Press release). Citigroup. 22 October 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
- ^ a b "Leadership Team - Jane Fraser | Citi". www.citigroup.com. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
- ^ "Citigroup: Citigroup's Jane Fraser Will Be The First Female CEO Of A Top-Tier Investment Bank". Forbes.com. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
- ^ Flitter, Emily (10 February 2021). "Jane Fraser Has to Fix Citigroup. It Will Be a Tough Job". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
- ^ a b Surane, Jennifer (13 October 2021). "Jane Fraser Has a Plan to Remake Citigroup While Tormenting Rivals". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
- ^ "Business Not As Usual | HKDC". HKDC. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
- ^ "Hong Kong Hopes Summit of Business Leaders Signals Comeback as Financial Hub". Voice of America. 4 November 2022. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
- ^ "Citi's incoming CEO Fraser forms new operating team to build leadership accountability". Reuters. 3 February 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
- ^ Sellers, Patricia (7 March 2014). "Women execs climb in the big bank shuffle". Fortune. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
- ^ Borden, Taylor. "Meet Jane Fraser, the first woman set to helm a major US bank". Business Insider. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
- ^ Fairchild, Caroline; Kowitt, Beth; Leahey, Colleen; VanderMey, Anne (2014). "The Most Powerful Women in Business". Fortune. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
- ^ Gross, Elana Lyn; Voytko, Lisette; McGrath, Maggie (2 June 2021). "The New Golden Age". Forbes. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
- ^ "Jane Fraser | 2023 Most Powerful Women". Fortune.
- ^ "Jane Fraser's ex-banker husband seems to have a pretty ideal existence". eFinancialCareers. 11 September 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
- ^ Harlow, Poppy (17 December 2014). "Women run banks differently: they are aware of 'collateral damage'". CNN. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
- ^ Ortega, Oralia (13 June 2015). "Local Community Comes Together To Revitalize Neighborhood". CBS Local. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
- ^ "Citi CEO Jane Fraser on exiting 13 retail markets outside of US". CNBC. 20 April 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
- ^ "Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser deliver testimony before Congress". CNBC. 26 May 2021. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
- ^ "Hearing Before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs". Citigroup. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
- ^ "S. Hrg. 117-364 - Annual Oversight of Wall Street Firms". GovInfo.gov. U.S. Government Publishing Office. 26 May 2021. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
Sources
edit- Bryan, Lowell L.; Fraser, Jane; Oppenheim, Jeremy; Rall, Wilhelm (1999). Race for the World: Strategies to Build a Great Global Firm. Harvard Business School Press. p. 363. ISBN 087584846X.