Citigroup makes new executive changes

Citigroup, the government-rescued US banking giant, said Monday it had confirmed Mike Corbat as chief executive of Citi Holdings, a new unit holding relatively risky assets, as part of fresh executive changes.

It also said that Eric Aboaf, most recently chief financial officer of Citigroup's institutional clients group, had been appointed Citigroup treasurer.

Corbat, with the New York-based bank for more than 25 years, has served as interim chief executive since Citigroup announced a realignment into Citicorp and Citi Holdings in January.

He will work with newly appointed Citi Holdings chairman Gary Crittenden to "evaluate and set the strategic course" for businesses of the new unit, while "tightly managing risks and losses and maximizing the value of these assets," a company statement said.

Aboaf will "manage Citi's balance sheet and will be responsible for ensuring strong liquidity, asset and liability management and optimization of our capital structure," the company said in a separate statement.

Citi Holdings' assets include a 49 percent stake in Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, a wealth management joint venture launched in January with Morgan Stanley; Primerica insurance and Japanese units Nikko Cordial Securities and Nikko Asset Management.

Citigroup announced in mid-January that it was realigning the company into a two-part structure: Citicorp, an international commercial bank, and Citi Holdings, which group the bank's "non-core businesses," including brokerage and retail asset management.