Citigroup’s McWhinney bows out as wealth management boss
Former Schwab exec taking on back-office role at Citi; reassignment seen as blow for bank's remaining advisers
Deborah McWhinney apparently has had enough of overeeing Citi’s ever-shrinking wealth management business.
Citigroup Inc. yesterday disclosed 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. Citi has not yet announced a replacement for Ms. McWhinney in the wealth management division.
The former head of The Charles Schwab Corp.’s registered investment adviser platform has been managing the remnants of Citi’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, although the pricing scheme at Citi was to be based on a percentage of the RIA’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 Citi spokesman Sean Kevelighan.
Shortly after the Smith Barney spinoff, Citi employed about 600 financial advisers in the wealth management division. Mr. Kevelighan said that the division currently has approximately 400 advisers but could not confirm the total assets under management. In the fall of 2009, it stood at about $30 billion.
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