As senior bankers quit Citi, a little known rule is working to their advantage
If the speculation is correct, Citi might not be displeased if some of its senior people walk away voluntarily now that bonuses have been paid. There are unconfirmed rumours that Vis Raghavan, the head of Citi's investment bank, had a non-solicitation agreement with JPMorgan that expired in January. It's March, and Raghavan might want some spare seats to fill.
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It's fortunate, then, that Citi has a mechanism to encourage its senior bankers to resign. If you've worked at the bank for at least five years and the sum of your age plus your tenure totals more than 60, Citi may let you walk away with your deferred stock intact a long as you don't join a "significant competitor." If you don't meet the rule of 60, and you resign, your deferred stock will be withheld, as ex-Citi trader Gary Stevenson famously discovered to his disadvantage.
Citi declined to comment, but its rule is laid out in a public document for all to see. Goldman Sachs operates something similar and has long used it as a mechanism for clearing out expensive staff nearing the end of their careers.
There are unconfirmed suggestions that senior bankers leaving Citi have made the most of the arrangement. They include David Finkelstein, the head of consumer and retail M&A and Linos Lekkas, a veteran banker in London who left in 2024. It's not clear whether last year's exit of Tyler Dickson, Citi's former head of global banking, would fall under the rule. Dickson went to BlackStone, which might be considered a competitor. Finkelstein's destination is unknown; Lekkas is joining First Abu Dhabi Bank.
Some veterans at Citi might hang around until the bank chooses its new head of M&A. Once that die is cast, more may disappear if they dislike the choice. One former Citi banker says there's a lot of dissatisfaction and that bonuses were not great.
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