50岁的潘伟迪生于印度那格浦尔，16岁来到美国哥伦比亚大学求学。他在获得金融学博士之后在印第安纳大学任教，直至进入摩根士丹利公司。潘伟迪在摩根士丹利供职22年，他业绩非常突出，尤其是在经营摩根士丹利的证券业务方面。2005年，潘伟迪在摩根士丹利的一次管理层调整中落败，随后他带领一些高层同事离开摩根士丹利，建立了一只对冲基金。

2007年初，花旗的头头普林斯以8亿美元收购了这只基金，主要就是为了得到潘伟迪。他很快就将潘伟迪提升为花旗机构业务的主管。普林斯辞职之后，花旗集团将其兼任的董事长和首席执行官分拆，董事长之职由前美国财政部长罗伯特·鲁宾接任，任命潘伟迪为首席执行官。

－－自从这位印度人坐上CEO的位子之后，在花旗亚太区管理层，印度人的面孔就越来越多，而以前的老员工则接连离开，那些抱着一线往上爬的希望而死撑的华人，还要熬到何年何月才是个头啊。花旗集团现在已沦为美国第五大银行，呵呵，如果当年也是打着这个招牌，会有多少人为它工作呢？

Citi’s Slide Deepens As Investors Bail Out
2008年11月20日

Anxious investors pushed Citigroup Inc. shares into a deeper nosedive, putting even more pressure on Chief Executive Vikram Pandit to shore up confidence in the struggling bank.

Wednesday’s stock-price plunge of 23% was the steepest percentage decline ever for Citigroup, which during the past three days has lost a third of its stock-market value. Citigroup now stands as the fifth-largest U.S.-based bank; U.S. Bancorp, the new No. 4, has one-ninth the assets of Citigroup.

Investors were rattled by the New York company’s announcement that it will buy the last $17.4 billion in assets held by its structured investment vehicles, the off-balance-sheet vehicles known as SIVs that were among the first mortgage-related assets to blow up when the credit crunch hit last year. The purchase will result in a $1.1 billion write-down.

One Citigroup official expressed relief that the company is finally ridding itself of SIVs, which had hung over it like ‘an albatross.’

Also fueling the decline was a steeper fourth-quarter loss projection by David Trone, an analyst at Fox-Pitt, Kelton. ‘The specter of Citi’s problem asset levels . . . could continue to hinder investor confidence in the story,’ Mr. Trone wrote to clients.

For many investors, the daily drumbeat of bad news is causing even more pessimism about Citigroup’s exposure to risky assets and the difficulties Mr. Pandit faces in turning around the global financial giant he took over last December.

Citigroup executives say the bank has ample capital and funding and will be able to absorb waves of loan defaults for which banks of all sizes around the world are bracing. They also have expressed frustration over the sliding stock price, but maintain it doesn’t threaten the company’s viability.

Still, this month’s 53% stock-price drop could prompt some of Citigroup’s trading partners to start ‘pulling away,’ says Roger Lister, chief credit offer of credit-rating firm DBRS. In 4 p.m. New York Stock Exchange composite trading, Citigroup shares fell $1.96 to $6.40, their lowest closing value in more than 13 1/2 years.

In another sign of rising jitters, the annual cost of insuring $10 million of Citigroup debt for five years ballooned Wednesday to about $342,000, up by more than $100,000 from the previous day, according to CMA DataVision. That is far below the cost of insuring Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. debt was shortly before the securities firm plunged into bankruptcy court in mid-September.

The U.S. government has a huge stake in seeing Citigroup right itself, given the $25 billion infusion the bank got as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. But it isn’t clear what, if any, additional steps federal officials might be willing to take.

That question is haunting the company’s stock. ‘Fixed-income people are less worried because they know the support will be there,’ Mr. Lister says. ‘For equity investors, it will be there, but at what cost?’ Stock investors seem increasingly resigned to the possibility that their stakes will be heavily diluted.

Tanya Azarchs, a credit analyst at Standard & Poor’s, says the federal government has made a ‘broad expression of support.’ At the same time, though, Citigroup is struggling with intensifying problems. ‘As we’re watching the deterioration here of the market . . . it makes us think that the mark-to-market write-offs are not over yet,’ she adds.

Among scenarios that seemed implausible just a few months ago, speculation is growing that Citi will be forced to seek a merger with a stronger financial institution. Citi officials have said that isn’t necessary.

David Enrich

花旗股价暴跌 投资者信心尽失

焦虑的投资者推动花旗集团(Citigroup Inc.)的股价大幅下挫，这为首席执行长潘伟迪(Vikram Pandit)让市场对这家深陷困境的银行重拾信心带来了更大压力。

花旗集团股价周三暴跌了23%，这是该股历史上的最大跌幅，也令花旗集团的市值在过去3天里缩水了三分之一。花旗集团现在已沦为美国第五大银行，刚刚晋升为第四位的U.S. Bancorp只拥有相当于花旗集团九分之一的资产。

令投资者感到惊慌的是，花旗集团宣布将购买其结构性投资工具所持最后一笔174亿美元的资产，这种表外投资工具是去年信贷危机爆发时最先受到冲击抵押贷款类资产。此次交易将导致11亿美元的冲销。

花旗集团一位管理人员对该公司终于摆脱了表外投资工具的沉重负担感到如释重负。

Fox-Pitt, Kelton的分析师大卫·特罗恩(David Trone)对花旗第四季度亏损将加大的预期也推动了股票的下跌。特罗恩在写给客户的研究报告中称，花旗问题资产的水平可能进一步挫伤投资者对该公司的信心。

对许多投资者而言，日复一日的坏消息加剧了他们的悲观情绪，花旗深陷风险资产的程度和去年12月上任的潘伟迪振兴这家全球金融巨头所面临的难度都令投资者忧心忡忡。

花旗集团管理人员称，该行有充足的资本和资金，能够消化席卷全球银行业的贷款拖欠潮。他们也对股价的下滑表示不满，但称这并未危及到公司的活力。

不过，信用评级机构DBRS的首席信用长罗杰·李斯特尔(Roger Lister)说，本月53%的股价跌幅可能促使花旗集团的一些交易伙伴开始对其敬而远之。周三花旗股价下跌1.96美元，至6.40美元，为13年半以来的最低收盘价。

对该公司担忧加剧的另一个迹象是，根据CMA DataVision的数据，为花旗集团1,000万美元债券承保五年的年成本周三飙升至约342,000美元，较上一个交易日增加了10多万多美元。这仍远远低于雷曼兄弟(Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.) 9月中旬申请破产保护前不久该公司债券的承保成本。

鉴于美国政府已通过问题资产救助计划(TARP)向花旗注资了250亿美元，它已与这家公司的复苏利益攸关。但目前还不清楚联邦政府是否还会采取其它步骤。

这个问题一直在影响着该公司的股价。李斯特尔说，固定收益产品的投资者并不太担忧，因为他们知道会得到支持。对股票投资者而言，也会有支持，但他们要为此付出多大代价呢？股票投资者看来越来越相信他们的股票将有大幅稀释的可能性。

标准普尔(Standard & Poor’s)的信贷分析师泰娅·阿萨克斯(Tanya Azarchs)说，联邦政府多方表达了支持的意见。不过与此同时，花旗集团也面临着更加严峻的问题。她说，鉴于目前市场状况的恶化，我们认为按市价计值的冲销尚未结束。

不断升温的一个传言是，花旗集团将会被迫同更有实力的金融机构合并。而这在几个月前似乎还是不可想象的。花旗集团管理人员一直表示，没有这个必要。