Jane Fraser wants to change Citi's culture. Here's how 5 top execs are tackling the call to be 'relentless.'

"Citi's new pitbull identity was on display throughout Thursday's investor day, where the opening video was set to Easy McCoy's song "Beat the Best" and leaders repeatedly invoked words like "relentless" and "win" to describe the bank's culture, which was also mentioned at least 9 times. Fraser's work is far from done, even as its transformation nears its official end. The bank outlined targets for return on tangible common equity, a profitability measure, of around 14% or 15% by 2029."

"Mike Mayo, an outspoken analyst at Wells Fargo who described the old Citi as "reckless, arrogant, and complacent," pressed Fraser and the business line leaders on how long the culture change will take and what each is doing to realize it. While Thursday's responses were light on specifics and timelines, some throughlines emerged in how the bank's leaders are thinking about the cultural shift. Discipline and oversight Fraser said that the bank enforces enterprise-wide standards and approaches, and works to deliver consistent messaging."

"In January, she sent a firm-wide memo instructing everyone to "adopt a more commercial mindset," and clarifying that she expects to see "the last vestiges of old, bad habits fall away." On Thursday, Fraser indicated that she and her team are quantifying some of that mindset shift. "We measure the organizational health, so there's no slippage from the org structure ch""

Jane Fraser became Citi CEO in 2021 and committed to modernizing the bank through leadership changes, layoffs, and a stronger winning mindset. The transformation effort is now more than 90% complete, and executives are being asked how the promised culture shift is becoming real for Citi’s more than 200,000 employees. An investor day emphasized a “pitbull” identity using “Beat the Best” and repeated language about “relentless” and “win.” Citi set targets for return on tangible common equity of about 14% to 15% by 2029, compared with JPMorgan’s 20% last year. Analysts pressed for timelines and specifics, while Fraser emphasized enterprise-wide standards, consistent messaging, and measuring organizational health to prevent slippage.

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