E-Trade snags Citi exec Freiberg as new CEO

E-Trade Financial Corp. has tapped former Citigroup Inc. executive Steven Freiberg as its new CEO, starting next month.

E-Trade Financial Corp. said Monday that it has tapped former Citigroup Inc. executive Steven Freiberg as its new CEO, starting next month.

The brokerage firm also plans to ask shareholders to support a reverse stock split, which will lower its total share amount to 400 million.

The online broker has been restructuring in order to cope with the credit crisis and recession. It was especially hurt by loan losses in its mortgage and home lending portfolios.

E-Trade is hoping that its latest moves will help to turnaround the business. The company, which is based in New York, has been the target of takeover speculation for months. Some analysts have pointed to competitors such as TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. or Charles Schwab Corp. as possible suitors.

Freiberg will take over for Robert Druskin — another former Citigroup Inc. executive — who had served as E-Trade’s CEO on an interim basis after Don Layton retired at the end of 2009. Druskin will continue as chairman.

Freiberg, 53, was most recently co-chairman and co-CEO of Citigroup’s Global Consumer Group. He has held other positions with the company as well, including a tenure as chairman and CEO of Citi Cards, the world’s biggest credit card franchise.

Freiberg will also become an E-Trade board member. He serves as a board member for MasterCard and the International March of Dimes.

E-Trade wants to enact a 1-for-10 reverse stock split. It will ask stockholders to approve the measure at its annual meeting on May 13. E-trade’s shares have been trading below $2 since late 2008, except during a short period in early 2009 when the shares rose as high as $2.58. On Monday, the shares slipped 3 cents to $1.54 in morning trading.