One on One with Robert Druskin, COO, Citi
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
|
|
|
|
SUSIE GHARIB: A short while ago I talked with Citi's chief operating officer Robert Druskin. My first question, are those cuts enough to turn Citi around?
ROBERT DRUSKIN, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, CITI: Well, I think what we've done is put together in three months, which is a pretty short period, a pretty comprehensive package of things that we've not only will get expense out of the system but we think will make the company operate better which is one of our goals.
GHARIB: Bob, you're cutting a large percentage of the work force. How is this going to impact growth and revenues?
DRUSKIN: Well, one of the goals -- we really had three goals. One was to structurally change our expense base. One was to change the way we operate. The third was not to impair our investments or our revenue- generating capability. We think we've done that. The cuts that we're making really are coming from the middle back offices, from sectors and from corporate centers. Our revenue people are really untouched by this for the most part and we're highly confident that we can continue our investment programs, continue with our revenue growth and still take these heads out.
GHARIB: This is a massive restructuring. What hurdles do you expect in terms of executing the plan?
DRUSKIN: Well, I am -- let me say I'm extremely confident in our ability to execute. Every personnel action that we've outlined, every dollar of savings is really pretty much nailed down. We have several hundred specific initiatives behind these. They're all catalogued in a project management tracking system and so for every item, I know who is responsible, when they're going to happen and what the results are going to be. We're going to track that very carefully so I'm highly confident of our ability to execute.
GHARIB: Are you considering selling any units of Citi? Many of the analysts that I talked to were saying that it would make sense to sell off Smith Barney, for example? Is that option on the table?
DRUSKIN: No, it's not. We think that the company's comprised of a number of different businesses and our challenge is to get them to work better together which we're moving ahead with full steam. There's no plans to sell any major pieces of the company.
GHARIB: Citi stock was down on the news today. What else do you think you need to do to get investors confident about Citi again?
DRUSKIN: Well, first of all, we have to execute. The stock price today was just one day. We actually had a pretty good day in the market yesterday. I've been looking through the analyst reports today and although it's been a busy day and I haven't had time to read all of them, they seem to understand what we're trying to do and I think the reaction has generally been good and so we're confident that if we do the things we've said and continue to manage our expense base dynamically going forward and execute not only on cost, but on our revenue initiatives, the stock will respond.
GHARIB: Given your long tenure at Citi, do you sense that CEO Chuck Prince is up against any kind of a deadline to deliver on this plan and to deliver on the stock?
DRUSKIN: Well, I really can't answer that. I've worked with Chuck a long time. He and I are very close partners and I have enormous confidence in his strategy and his ability to lead the company and I and the rest of the management team are solidly behind Chuck and we're confident that we're doing a lot of the right things now to get the company moving forward the right way.
GHARIB: I know that there's been a lot of pressure from external shareholders. To what extent did Citi's largest shareholder, Prince Al-Waleed of Saudi Arabia, pressuring CEO Chuck Prince?
DRUSKIN: I can't answer that. I've not spoken to the prince. I don't know whether Chuck has or not. I would assume he has. Chuck has really a practice of dealing with our important shareholders and the prince is certainly one of those.
GHARIB: Bob, thank you very much. We appreciate you talking to NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT.
DRUSKIN: You're very welcome. Thanks for having me.
