Word: citibank
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...forefront of expansion is exactly where Wriston intends to keep Citibank. Today, while other bankers talk of retrenchment and caution, Wriston clings to his goal of a 15% profit growth each year (an aim that Citibank did not quite achieve in 1975). Many bankers believe that such a target is more appropriate for a growth company like IBM or Xerox than for a bank, which has the primary responsibility of safeguarding depositors' money. Wriston concedes that rapid expansion may increase bad-loan write-offs, but makes two arguments for doing it nonetheless. Says he: "If we didn...
...bankers across the U.S. ponder a possibly troubled future, they inevitably look for leadership to the Manhattan-headquartered First National City Bank. By embarking upon one daring innovation after another, Citibank has indisputably established itself as the premier pacesetter of U.S. banking. The man who charts Citibank's bold course is a tall, sinewy iconoclast named Walter Bigelow Wriston. An uncommon blend of hard-driving executive and reflective, sometimes cynical intellectual, Chairman Wriston arguably exerts greater influence on American financial methods and mores than any other banker-and perhaps even more than all of them combined...
Wriston, 56, provokes both fierce loyalty and fierce hate. The loyalties come from those at Citibank who are inspired by his drive and vision, which have made the bank among the most envied in the world. The hates spring from Wriston's sharp tongue, which lashes at almost everyone in sight. Even one of his admirers formerly at Citibank says, with only slight exaggeration: "He is arrogant, flip and runs the place with a needle. Every comment is a wise-ass remark...
...equated with Boy Scouts"-a crack that can be fully appreciated only by someone who knows that the line's officers and directors agreed to an out-of-court settlement on shareholders' charges of fiscal mismanagement. Faced once by contradictory accusations from Ralph Nader that Citibank was being too stingy in lending to the poor and at the same time luring the poor into debt over their heads, Wriston asked dryly...
Wriston directs his fast-growing bank from a tapestried office on the 15th floor of Citibank's home office at 399 Park Avenue. He relaxes by spending weekends on his Connecticut farm with his lovely second wife, Kathryn...