FDIC to assess Citigroup executives

WASHINGTON, July 10 (UPI) -- U.S. regulators are taking a closer look at management positions at troubled Citigroup, a source close the discussions said.

Citigroup, which fared poorly in the Treasury Department's stress tests this spring, has made three major shifts among top leadership in the past year, The New York Times reported Friday.

In the most recent switch, Chief Accounting Officer Edward Kelly submitted his resignation shortly before the July 4th weekend.

Kelly's resignation, however, was unacceptable to Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit, who moved Kelly to an advisory position, filling his previous post with John Gerspach, the bank's fifth chief finance executive in five years.

The Times said the Federal Insurance Deposit Corp., which Kelly once called a "tertiary" regulator, has been pressuring the bank to bring more experienced commercial bankers into management roles.

The source said the regulator planned to review the bank's executive team in a comparison study, matching the team's qualifications against management of other large banks. The recent switch left some with doubts that Pandit would remain at his job.

"I'm not really sure that he is in control anymore," said stock analyst Stuart Plesser, at Standard & Poors.