A Key Citi Exec Leaves as the Bank Overhauls Its Wealth Business

A Citibank branch in New York City. (Gabby Jones/Bloomberg)

Key Points

• Valentin Valderrabano, Citigroup’s wealth management chief operating officer, is departing after two decades for an outside opportunity.
• Valderrabano’s exit occurs as Citi integrates its U.S. retail bank into wealth management and undergoes a firmwide “transformation.”
• Andy Sieg, head of wealth, praised Valderrabano’s leadership and announced Sachin Mathur and Joe Bonanno will share interim responsibilities.

The chief operating officer of Citigroup’s wealth management division is leaving the bank after two decades at the company, the latest in a series of top leadership changes at the firm as Citi remakes itself.

Valentin Valderrabano, who has helped oversee significant structural changes to the wealth business in recent years, is leaving the firm to pursue an outside opportunity, wealth head Andy Sieg said Tuesday in a memo to employees that was viewed by Barron’s.

Valderrabano is leaving at a critical time. Citi is integrating its U.S. retail bank into wealth management as part of a restructuring announced last month, and he has helped lead the wealth arm’s overhaul since he was named its operating chief in 2022.

Wealth has been an integral part of Citi’s turnaround initiative, a yearslong undertaking known as the “transformation,” under CEO Jane Fraser, who took over in 2021. Fraser’s team has set out to fix firmwide deficiencies in its internal controls and risk- and data-management after financial regulators ordered the bank to strengthen its operations.

In the memo Sieg wrote to employees on Tuesday, he praised Valderrabano as working “tirelessly across businesses and regions.” He has forged a “strong network across Citi as a result of his leadership, firm-first approach and consistent focus on delivering the best outcomes for colleagues and clients,” Sieg said.

Valderrabano’s next role was unclear. He didn’t respond to requests for comment and a spokesman for Citi declined to comment.

Sieg, who joined Citi in 2023 after running Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, has shaken up the wealth arm in an effort to improve efficiency and boost returns. Last year he said it should be “the No. 1 wealth management business in the world over time.”

The business sold its alternative assets unit to iCapital this past spring, sold its trust business to financial-services firm JTC in 2024, and struck a big portfolio-management partnership with BlackRock this fall.

In his memo, Sieg said executives Sachin Mathur and Joe Bonanno would divide responsibilities of the wealth chief operating office in the interim while Citi looks for Valderrabano’s replacement.

Mathur, who joined as a top wealth leader this year from Merrill Lynch, will lead business execution, risk and controls, expense management, and the U.S. retail bank integration while also leading business execution for investment solutions. Bonanno, head of wealth data, analytics, and innovation, will also oversee wealth platform and experience.

Write to Rebecca Ungarino at rebecca.ungarino@barrons.com