Financier №1 (41) 2026

In March 2021, Jane Fraser took over as CEO of one of the world’s largest investment banks, Citigroup (С). As the first woman to lead the financial institution, she inherited serious operational and regulatory challenges. The climax came in 2020, when Citibank intended to disburse $7.8 million to creditors but accidentally settled an entire $900 million debt.

The payment was related to obligations of the cosmetics company Revlon. Due to an unintuitive interface of internal software, employees and a contractor incorrectly filled out fields in the system. This transaction was approved without additional verification. The error was only noticed the next morning, when the funds had already reached the creditors and could not be recovered. Citigroup was fined $400 million and placed under multi‑year regulatory supervision.

This incident marked the starting point for business transformation. At the Investor Day in 2022, Jane Fraser unveiled a reform plan, which about a year later evolved into a large‑scale internal reorganisation programme called “Project Bora Bora”.

Nothing Extra

Under Ms. Fraser’s leadership, the financial corporation focused on developing several key business lines. These include retail and investment banking, insurance services, and wealth management. The bank decided to abandon regional management, which had previously effectively separated the CEO from operational oversight of business units. The number of management layers was reduced from thirteen to eight. Thirty‑five internal committees were dissolved, and reporting lines were redefined for approximately 50.000 employees. These changes accelerated decision‑making and strengthened personal accountability across the company.

In parallel, Citigroup began withdrawing from 14 overseas retail markets. By 2025, this process had entered its final phase. The freed‑up capital was redirected toward more profitable business areas.

Total Upgrade

Organisational changes were accompanied by a large‑scale IT infrastructure modernisation. Citigroup invested around $12 billion in technology upgrades, including cloud solutions and updates to internal banking software. Over three years, the bank decommissioned more than two thousand legacy applications. Operational risks were minimised through the adoption of a unified IT platform across the corporation.

This enabled a single sanctions compliance system* and consolidation of equity trading to just one platform out of twenty. A key element was a multi‑year deal with Google Cloud to migrate critical IT systems - on which the bank’s daily operations depend - to the cloud environment. As a result, system deployment times were reduced from seven weeks to two. Additionally, the bank implemented automation and analytics tools, including AI solutions.

 *Internal system of instruments aimed at preventing violations of national and international sanctions

For example, the AI assistant Citi Assist acts as a “smart colleague” and helps employees quickly find answers in complex internal policies and procedures - from HR to finance and risk - reducing the volume of routine tasks. The Citi Squad assistant enables the bank’s developers to automate code reviews. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, Citi Squad performed around 220.000 such operations, accelerating development and improving the quality of software solutions.

Financial Detox

Citigroup’s transformation has restored regulator confidence. In December 2025, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) eased supervisory requirements imposed five years earlier, and the Federal Reserve lifted some risk‑management‑related findings.

From 23 November 2023 - when “Project Bora Bora” entered its practical implementation phase - to 12 January 2026, Citigroup shares rose by 161.4 %, significantly outperforming both the broader market (S&P 500: +53.6 %) and the financial sector (ETF XLF: +56.3 %). This performance strongly demonstrates that investors have regained confidence in Citigroup.