Citi CEO reiterates call for responsible finance

A woman walks out of a Citibank branch in New York, the United States, April 26, 2010. The federal government took its first step towards unloading its remaining stake in Citigroup, unveiling plans Monday to sell up to 1.5 billion shares in the banking giant. (Xinhua/Shen Hong)

NEW YORK, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Vikram Pandit reiterated call Wednesday for responsible finance to restore confidence and trust in the financial system.

"A culture of responsibility is a powerful force, beyond rules and regulations, to help guard against bad judgments, temptations to push the envelope and the impulse to act in self-interest first," Pandit told audience at the Columbia University's World Leaders Forum.

Pandit was named the CEO of Citigroup on December 11, 2007. The bank suffered huge losses and was forced to accept three government rescues in 2008 and 2009.

"So what we do at the Citi is to pull ourselves out from the crisis, to build new Citi, to learn and remember the lessons of the turmoil we lived through of the last two years," the CEO said.

"After I became CEO, my management team and focus on three immediate priorities, financial strength, strategic clarity and cultural change," he added.

To return the basic of Banking, Citi will be 40 percent smaller in size compared with the peak in 2007, according to Pandit.

Citi, the biggest U.S. bank by market value before the crisis, repaid in December 20 billion U.S. dollars of the bailout funds it received from the government. The rest was converted into a 27 percent U.S. stake.

During his speech, Pandit reiterated his recent calls for "responsible finance" during the speech by saying that "We at Citi are creating a unified culture built on the values of responsible finance."

At Citigroup's annual shareholders meeting last week, Pandit said responsible finance "is the driving force behind the culture of the new Citi, and it is defined by the interests of our shareholders, customers and colleagues."

Pandit also urged Wednesday a "strong and clear regulatory reform," including a "level playing field for the global financial industry" and a clear regulatory authority to resolve the fate of systemically important institutions that become endangered.