In The Black: Vault's Finance Careers Blog

Sorry For Blowing It, Says Ex-Citi CEO

It's been a year and half since we last heard from ex-Citigroup CEO John Reed on the subject of his former firm being a pile of short sticks. Yesterday, Reed spoke in an interview from his Park Avenue office (that Citi still pays for even though Reed left the bank a decade ago) to apologize for helping to create the seriously messed up firm that is now simply referred to as Citi.

Reed said, among other things, that he would now not vote in favor of repealing Glass Steagall, the act that once separated investment banks from commercial banks and that, once repealed, played more than a big part in why we are now looking at a 10-plus percent unemployment rate in the U.S.

Reed also said he's in favor of chopping down firms as big and sluggish as Citi and splitting them up into small pieces of kindling.

As for why he made so many bad calls when running Citigroup before handing it over to Sandy Weill, Reed says, "When you’re running a company, you do what you think is right for the stockholders. Right now I’m looking at this as a citizen."

Meaning, what appears to be good for the bottom line for your firm may in fact turn out to be a terrible move and the demise of your firm as well as an entire economy.

Woops.