Archive

Citigroup loses head of wealth unit

Deborah McWhinney apparently has had enough of the wealth management business

Deborah McWhinney apparently has had enough of the wealth management business.

Citigroup Inc. last week said that the head of its personal-banking and wealth management division is taking a new job at the bank: head of global digital-merchant acquiring. The position involves managing payment and transaction services for the bank’s largest clients.

Citigroup hasn’t yet announced a replacement for Ms. McWhinney in the wealth management division.

Ms. McWhinney, who is the former head of The Charles Schwab Corp.’s registered investment adviser platform, has been managing the remnants of Citigroup’s wealth management division since the bank spun off Smith Barney nearly two years ago. The 11,000-plus Smith Barney advisers were folded into a joint venture controlled by Morgan Stanley in May 2009.

“I know people loved working for her,” said Mindy Diamond, president of recruiting firm Diamond Consultants. “She was a real advocate for advisers and brokers, and I expect they’re disappointed she’s leaving.”

Ms. McWhinney’s strategy with the bank’s wealth management division was to convert the commission-based brokers into fee-based advisers, in part through a referral program with outside investment advisers. She oversaw a similar program at Schwab, though the pricing scheme at Citigroup was to be based on a percentage of the registered investment adviser’s fees, rather than on the assets referred.

Due to the difficulty of separating retirement from non-retirement assets, however, that program is on hold until the Labor Department issues guidance on the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, according to Citigroup spokes-man Sean Kevelighan.

E-mail Andrew Osterland at [email protected].