Terri Dial, who transformed Lloyds TSB's retail operations, has been poached to revive the consumer business of Citigroup, the troubled American bank.

The appointment of the 58-year-old Californian is part of a reshuffle by new chief executive Vikram Pandit, who replaced Chuck Prince in December.

Mr Pandit will no doubt hope that Ms Dial can effect the same magic that saw her rejuvenate Lloyds TSB and, before that, help to turn Wells Fargo into one of America's most popular retail banks.

When Ms Dial joined Lloyds TSB in June 2005, the British bank's retail operations were suffering from slow growth and margin pressure. Her impact since is clear. Lloyds TSB has the most current account holders on the high street and retail banking reported a 12 per cent increase in pre-tax profit for 2007.

She has developed a taste for cricket since coming to Britain, in part because of the bank's sponsorship of Scotland's team and she often goes to rugby matches with her husband.

After graduating in political science from Northwestern University, Ms Dial became a teller at Wells Fargo and rose through the ranks to become president and chief executive.

Mr Pandit, who has been reviewing Citigroup's operations in a attempt to cut costs and boost revenue, also yesterday ousted Ali Hackett and Tom Tesauro, co-heads of global equity finance and prime brokerage. Nick Roe, who ran the European part of that business, will head global prime finance from his London office.

The bank is drawing up a different structure for retail and corporate work, with new Asia and Europe divisions containing consumer and corporate businesses. Ajay Banga, the current head of international consumer operations, is expected to lead the Asia division.

Citigroup's consumer business lost $432 million (£216 million) in the fourth quarter. Full-year profit fell by 51 per cent to $4.1 billion as it was hit by the sub-prime crisis.