Citi's New Guard: Jane Fraser's Star Recruits

After years of remediation, Citi is officially on the attack. CEO Jane Fraser has laid out high expectations for 2026, declaring that the bank has put the "dog days" of its multiyear transformation behind it.

In a recent memo to more than 200,000 employees, Fraser made her mandate clear: "the bar is raised," and it is time to ditch bad habits. This cultural shift marks a pivotal moment for the financial giant, moving from fixing past problems to competing head-on with Wall Street's most established names.

When Fraser took the helm in 2021, Citi was bogged down by regulatory pressure, dated technology, and investor doubts. Five years later, the stock is up 40% over the past year and more than 80% over the past five, signaling that the worst is behind them.

Central to Citi's offensive strategy are three executives Fraser hired to run businesses critical to the bank's growth: investment banking, wealth management, and technology. Their rise has fueled quiet succession chatter, though Fraser has given no indication she plans to step aside.

Analysts see a powerful alignment. Brian Mulberry, a portfolio manager at Zacks Investment Management, offered a sports analogy to describe the dynamic:

If Jane Fraser is the quarterback, you need really strong skill positions—the receivers and running backs—to carry the ball over the goal line. These are the five-star recruits you'd want on that team. They're now on offense.

The three executives—Viswas Raghavan, Andy Sieg, and Tim Ryan—each bring a distinct reputation to their roles, from corporate dealmaking to the white-glove world of wealth management.

Viswas "Vis" Raghavan took over Citi's investment banking business in June 2024, and the unit is already showing clear signs of momentum. Under his leadership, investment banking fees rose 35% year over year in 2025, with M&A revenues jumping 84%.

Fraser highlighted prominent client wins during the earnings call, including mandate work for Boeing, Pfizer, Nippon Steel, and Johnson & Johnson. Last year, Citi advised on Nippon Steel's roughly $14.9 billion acquisition of US Steel and Charter Communications' announced $35 billion combination with Cox Communications.

Raghavan, a 25-year JPMorgan veteran, is known for his high expectations. His credibility has helped him rebuild Citi's senior dealmaking ranks from rivals, luring top talent including:

• Drago Rajkovic and Guillermo Baygual from JPMorgan as global co-heads of M&A
• David Friedland, former Goldman Sachs partner, as co-head of North America investment banking
• Alex Berkett, former JPMorgan banker, to build Citi's media business

Appointed in late 2023 to fix Citi's wealth business, Andy Sieg has already delivered results. Wealth revenue grew 14% in 2025, and Sieg recently shared a chart showing Citi Wealth revenue up 22% in two years.

Sieg, the former president of Merrill Wealth Management at Bank of America, has doubled down on Fraser's message. In a memo to his division, he wrote: "For 2026, the bar has been raised... Jane speaks of scale for the bank; it will be our watchword as well."

His strategy includes deepening the integration of wealth offerings through the US retail bank and incorporating AI into daily workflows. Sieg has restructured the division, moving away from a single global private-bank head structure and making targeted hires:

• Kate Moore, former BlackRock portfolio manager, to run the chief investment office
• Dawn Nordberg, ex-Morgan Stanley executive, to deepen ties between wealth and banking
• Clinton Warren, former JPMorgan private banker, to lead teams in the central US

As Citi moves out of its long-running cleanup phase, Tim Ryan is driving the bank deep into artificial intelligence. More than 80% of Citi's transformation programs are now at or close to their target state, allowing a shift toward growth and innovation.

Ryan, who joined Citi in 2024 after nearly two decades at PwC, was tasked with turning around the bank's substandard data management systems. He now oversees Citi's AI strategy, embedding artificial intelligence into core processes—from know-your-customer reviews to loan underwriting.

The results are already visible. Citi's proprietary AI tools have been used tens of millions of times by employees in 84 countries, with adoption exceeding 70% across workflows. In the third quarter, generative AI conducted one million automated code reviews, saving approximately 100,000 hours per week across the developer population.

Citi has spent years defined by baggage from its past, but now has the rare chance to define what it wants to be. With Viswas Raghavan driving investment banking, Andy Sieg rebuilding wealth management, and Tim Ryan reinventing the technology backbone, the bank is positioned for sustained growth.

Fraser's directive to her staff was simple and direct: "Let's get it done." The competition is fierce—Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are spending billions to supercharge their AI capabilities—but Citi's transformation appears to have reached a turning point.

The bank's future now rests on the shoulders of its new guard, who have already proven they can deliver results. As the 2026 strategy takes shape, all eyes are on these three executives to see if they can carry the ball across the goal line.