John S. Reed, Sanford I. Weill and Robert E. Rubin in 1999.
Citi was once the world’s first “financial supermarket.” No longer. Upon its joint venture spin-off with Morgan Stanley, it is dismantling the dream and vision of Sandy Weill. Two government bailouts plus a backstop often mean an institution cannot survive as is, however. The venture however does throw into the equation a very important detail… what about Citi/Taxpayer-Bailout Field, new home of the Mets. Might Morgan Stanley get their name on the stadium? Morgan Stanley always seemed like more of a Yankees fan…
After little more than a decade, the very model of the modern financial superpower is collapsing.
As Citigroup weighs a plan to break itself apart, it is essentially seeking to unwind the epochal 1998 deal that gave it life. And it means the unwinding of the dream of Sanford I. Weill to create a one-stop financial shop, which encompassed virtually every kind of banking and brokerage service under the sun.
Other banking giants still roam the American financial landscape, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and the combined Wells Fargo-Wachovia. But none has been so closely identified with the universal banking model, one that analysts and investors seem increasingly willing to consign to the trash bin of history.
As Citigroup weighs a plan to break itself apart, it is essentially seeking to unwind the epochal 1998 deal that gave it life. And it means the unwinding of the dream of Sanford I. Weill to create a one-stop financial shop, which encompassed virtually every kind of banking and brokerage service under the sun.
Other banking giants still roam the American financial landscape, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and the combined Wells Fargo-Wachovia. But none has been so closely identified with the universal banking model, one that analysts and investors seem increasingly willing to consign to the trash bin of history.
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