Why Citigroup’s CEO is retiring earlier than expected, paving the way for the first woman to run a major U.S. bank

Why Citigroup’s CEO is retiring earlier than expected, paving the way for the first woman to run a major U.S. bank

Chief Executive Officer of Citigroup Michael Corbat speaks at a European Financial Forum event in Dublin, Ireland February 13, 2019.Clodagh Kilcoyne | ReutersWhen Citigroup president Jamie Forese announced he was stepping down in April 2019, it set off a chain of events that culminated Thursday when the firm announced it will appoint Jane Fraser as CEO, making her the first female CEO of a major U.S. bank.Forese, a 33-year veteran of Citigroup, was widely seen as CEO Michael Corbat's heir apparent, the person who would take over the third-biggest U.S. bank if something happened to Corbat. Now, it was anybody's game.Fraser, a rising star and former McKinsey partner who ran the bank's sprawling Latin American operations, saw the opening she'd been waiting for.She let Corbat know that she was getting