Citi Investigates HR Complaints Against Wealth Head

Todd Gillespie, Bloomberg Finance Reporter, discusses Citigroup's investigation into HR complaints against the company's wealth management head.

Citigroup Inc. hired law firm Paul Weiss to investigate complaints about the behavior of the bank’s wealth-management chief, Andy Sieg, who was brought on by Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser as a high-profile hire to drive a key part of her turnaround plan.

Sieg, on a quest to shake up Citigroup’s wealth business, has drawn complaints from current and former staff accusing him of intimidating and unfairly sidelining employees since he arrived almost two years ago, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. Sieg, 58, not only runs the global division, he sits on the bank’s 18-person executive management team and is seen on Wall Street as a candidate to someday succeed Fraser.

The law firm’s inquiry was opened after a request from human-resources chief Sara Wechter, according to one of the people. The bank’s board, led by Chair John Dugan, has also received anonymous complaints critical of Sieg’s conduct at Citigroup and during earlier periods of his career, according to correspondence reviewed by Bloomberg News.

Paul Weiss’s investigation is now complete, some of the people said, asking not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak publicly. More than a dozen people were interviewed as part of the effort, including some as recently as July, the people said. The bank declined to comment on the outcome of the probe. Sieg didn’t respond to requests for comment.

While it’s not entirely clear which allegations were reviewed by Paul Weiss, at least six Citigroup managing directors made complaints, the people said. Both men and women raised concerns to human resources, with some focusing on Sieg’s treatment of Ida Liu, the former head of Citigroup’s private bank who left the company in January after 18 years, and Kristen Bitterly, a senior wealth executive. Several of the people who complained are no longer at the firm.

“It is standard practice for us to engage an outside law firm to investigate allegations made against a senior member of the management team to ensure independence and prevent even the appearance of a possible conflict of interest,” Citigroup spokesperson Mark Costiglio said in a statement.

Examples of Sieg’s behavior include expletive-filled rants, sarcastically disparaging an executive to a group of colleagues after the person had left the room, and calling an individual’s work “pathetic” with the person and colleagues present, according to people familiar with the incidents.

Paul Weiss didn’t respond to requests for comment. Liu declined to comment when reached by Bloomberg News. Bitterly, who remains at the bank, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Citigroup shares were down 2.1% at 10:17 a.m. in New York after dropping as much as 3.3% earlier Wednesday morning.

Expanding the bank’s wealth-management franchise has been a high priority for Fraser, 58, who became CEO in 2021 and pledged to boost Citigroup’s profitability to keep pace with its global peers. The company is gradually seeing improvements: Its shares have climbed about 30% this year, the most among the largest US banks.

As part of her campaign, Fraser installed Sieg in September 2023 after he spent six years running Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill wealth franchise. Fraser met him multiple times, even traveling to his home in Connecticut, to persuade him to defect, according to a person familiar with the talks.

Under Sieg’s watch, Citigroup’s wealth unit has shifted its focus from a lending-heavy private bank to handling more investments for the mass affluent. That helped drive revenue from the business to a record $2.17 billion in the second quarter while improving returns.

“Andy is a highly respected leader with more than 25 years operating at the most senior levels of the wealth-management industry. When he joined Citi in 2023, it was with a clear mandate for change and Wealth has been transformed under his leadership,” said Costiglio, the Citigroup spokesperson.

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