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CitiGroup CEO Vikram Pandit and his right hand man, COO John Havens, took the financial world by surprise this morning and announced their resignations from the financial giant effectively immediately—an abrupt change from two months ago when Pandit said he was looking forward to spending several years as the bank's CEO.
Initial reactions from analysts aren't buying a word of the amicable release from CitiGroup and Pandit, Fox Business's Charles Gasparino ("lets stop dancing around what's obvious vikram pandit was fired") believe it was a firing, while Moneywatch's Jill Schlesinger believes "the more likely scenario is some combination of Pandit being sick of fighting the fight and a board that wanted a change." The Wall Street Journal's team of David Enrich, Gregory Zuckerman, and Saabira Chaudhuri are reporting that the departure was less friendly than the press releases suggest. "Chief Executive Vikram Pandit abruptly stepped down following a clash with the New York company's board over strategy and operating performance at businesses including its institutional clients group, according to people with knowledge of the bank," they write.