Citi Shakes up its Top Job: Luchetti in as CFO, Retail Gets Folded into Wealth

With input from Bloomberg and Reuters.

Citigroup is doing another round of reshuffling at the top. The bank said Thursday that longtime CFO Mark Mason will step down in early March and hand the finance reins to Gonzalo Luchetti, who currently runs Citi’s US retail bank.

Luchetti’s promotion comes with a big structural change: the US retail unit he oversees won’t exist in its current form much longer. Once he moves into the CFO seat, that retail business will be broken up and merged into Citi’s wealth management arm. Going forward, the retail bank and Citigold will be run by Kate Luft, reporting to wealth head Andy Sieg. Luchetti’s former division effectively becomes part of Luft’s broader wealth setup.

Citi is also carving out its credit card operation into a standalone business. The cards group — known for major partnerships with Costco and American Airlines — will now be led by Pam Habner. That swap replaces US Personal Banking as one of Citi’s five main lines of business.

CEO Jane Fraser framed Mason’s exit as a planned, orderly transition. In a LinkedIn post, she called him “a steady hand” and said he’s leaving after more than 20 years at Citi to pursue leadership roles elsewhere. Mason, one of the most senior African American executives in global banking, has served as CFO for seven years. He’ll stay on as an adviser to Fraser through 2026, helping with the transition and prepping for Citi’s next investor day in May.

Still, the surprise departure raised eyebrows on Wall Street. Argus Research analyst Stephen Biggar said Mason had been one of Citi’s most visible voices backing Fraser’s strategy, and losing him could sting on the communication front.

Wells Fargo analyst Mike Mayo was also cautious about what the “mini-reorg” means for investors in the near term. He noted that Citi may need to restate earnings again because of the new setup — a headache for a bank already deep in a multi-year overhaul. Mayo also pointed out that Luchetti will inherit post-2026 financial targets he didn’t create, calling him largely unknown to investors and untested as CFO of a sprawling global bank. Mason sticking around for a long transition, he added, should help keep things steady.

The shake-up lands at an awkward time for Citi’s stock. Shares dipped about 0.7%–0.8% in early Friday trading, roughly matching declines across big US banks. Mayo said there’s no obvious red flag — the transition looks clean — but investors don’t love fresh complexity heading into year-end.

This all fits into Fraser’s broader push to streamline Citi and lift returns that have lagged peers for years. She’s been steadily reworking leadership and operations, and she recently tightened her grip on the bank after being named board chair in October. Even supporters like Mayo, a longtime Citi bull, say the long-term logic may be there — but in the short term, it adds noise when the market wants clarity.