Citigroup unveiled yet another management re-shuffle, moving its chief financial officer (CFO) just three and a half months into the job, in a sign of the pressure on Vikram Pandit, chief executive, to turn around the bank.

Ned Kelly, who was appointed CFO in March and has been seen as a potential successor to Mr Pandit, will become Citigroup’s vice-chairman with a focus on strategy and mergers and acquisitions.

Sources at the bank said that Mr Kelly was better suited to operations than a number-crunching role and would work closely with Mr Pandit on the bank’s turnaround.

John Gerspach, who has been at the bank for 19 years, will become Citigroup’s fifth CFO in the past five years. Gary Crittenden, who was CFO before Mr Kelly, will leave the bank to spend more time with his family and work on his private equity interests.

Bill Rhodes will step down as chairman and chief executive of Citibank, the company’s retail business, to be replaced by Eugene McQuade, previously the vice chairman of Merrill Lynch.

One banking source described the management changes as "moving deck chairs on the Titanic".

But other industry experts were more enthusiastic, welcoming Mr McQuade’s long retail experience and political nous gained from his work as chief operating officer of Freddie Mac, the nationalised lender.

Jason Goldberg, an analyst at Barclays Capital, pointed out in a research note: "In Citigroup’s 2006 annual report there was a picture of its 43 most senior executives. We note that 60 per cent (26 of 40) have since left".

Ajay Banga, the well-regarded chief executive of Citigroup’s Asia Pacific business, was the most recent to depart, leaving last month for Mastercard.

Once the world’s biggest bank, Citigroup is now surviving on a $45 billion bailout from taxpayers after losing more than $36 billion over the past year and a half.

Mr Pandit, who will reveal Citigroup’s second-quarter figures on July 17, is under pressure to improve the bank’s performance and dump unwanted assets as the Government prepares to become one of the bank’s biggest shareholders.

The Government will swap some of its preference shareholding it Citigroup, acquired during the bailout, for an equity stake of 34 per cent later this month.

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