Jane Fraser was appointed CEO of Citigroup in March 2021, a challenging time during the pandemic that ravaged the world. On Jan 12, Citi reported a net loss of US$1.8 billion ($2.4 billion) in 4QFY2023 ended December 2023, taking net profit in FY2023 down 38% to US$9.22 billion.
In a statement, Fraser said: “We grew our revenues ex-divestiture by 4% [y-o-y] and met our full-year expense guidance. We increased our CET1 ratio to 13.3%. Tangible book value rose 6% [y-o-y] US$86.19 and we returned US$6 billion to shareholders in common dividends and share buybacks.”
Fraser has been busy downsizing Citi since she came on board. In 2021, Citi announced the sale of its retail business in 14 markets in Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Citi had said the sale would release US$7 billion “of allocated tangible common equity over time”.
Notably, Citi divested its retail business in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam to United Overseas Bank U11 (UOB) for $4.915 billion, where $4 billion was the net asset value of the business in the Asean-4, while $915 million was the premium (goodwill) paid.
Separately, DBS Group Holdings acquired Citi Taiwan’s retail business. Fraser also divested the Indian retail business to Axis Bank. Citi has been in India since 1902.
Among the banks, Teresa Foo was made the first female CEO of Standard Chartered’s Singapore operations in 1994. She left Standard Chartered in 2001. Euleen Goh was appointed CEO of Standard Chartered Singapore in 2001 and left in 2006.
In Europe, Ana Botin was appointed executive chairman of Banco Santander in 2014, the fourth generation Botin to hold the position. Her father Emilio Botin was a former executive chairman of the group.
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Woman power in banking is increasingly prevalent. But S&P Global Market Intelligence says less than 5% of publicly traded banks in the US had female CEOs as at end-2021. Except for Citi, the banks with female CEOs were small regional banks.
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp’s (OCBC) asset size as at end June 2023 was $584 billion. That makes Helen Wong, group CEO of OCBC, a rare breed. More than that, her strategy to grow earnings and pay higher dividends has endeared her to investors.
Among Singapore bankers, Chng Sok Hui, who was appointed group CFO at DBS Group Holdings in 2008, is well known to analysts, media and investors as the face of DBS’s financial performance. DBS’s net profit has registered y-o-y growth since 2009. Eng-Kwok Seat Moey, head of capital markets at DBS, is known as the mother of S-REITs.
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Still with DBS, Tan Su Shan is the group head of institutional banking and also serves as the president commissioner for PT Bank DBS Indonesia. Before leading the IBG business, she was responsible for leading the group’s consumer banking and wealth management business for close to a decade.
DBS, with its C-suite of capable bankers, has seen its net profit grow from just $1.9 billion in 2008 to $8.2 billion in FY2022, and to $7.9 billion for the nine months to September 2023. DBS will announce its FY2023 earnings on Feb 7.
In other sectors, Chua Sock Koong was group CEO of Singapore Telecommunications Z74 (Singtel) from 2007 to 2021 (see table). Her time at Singapore’s largest corporation then was most notable. While Singtel delivered positive shareholder returns during Chua’s tenure, net profit declined. This was partly due to challenging times, in addition to exceptional items, depreciation and associate Bharti Airtel’s two rights issues in 2019 and 2021.
Elsewhere, Lynette Leong’s tenure at CapitaLand Commercial Trust (CCT) from 2007 to 2017 incorporated the Global Financial Crisis which hurt REITs. As a result, CCT announced a dilutive rights issue back in 2008. At any rate, CCT’s distributable income rose from $120.4 million in 2007 to $288.9 million in 2017. Distributions per unit fell from 8.7 cents in 2007 to 8.66 cents in 2017. Total unitholder returns in the 10 years was 56.7% which translates into a CAGR of 3.6%.
Under Leong, CCT redeveloped Market Street Car Park into CapitaGreen. Subsequently, CCT and its successor CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust C38U adopted a similar blueprint to redevelop Golden Shoe Car Park into CapitaSpring.
One of the better examples of woman power is Indra Nooyi who helmed Pepsico from 2006 to 2018. During her tenure, Pepsico delivered shareholder returns of more than 100% or a CAGR of 6.9%.
One remarkable CEO, Lisa Su, saved the day. She turned AMD around. At the beginning of her tenure, AMD made a significant loss. As at end FY2022, AMD's net profit stood at US$1.3 billion, and the share price performance speaks for itself.
