Does Pandit deserve more time?

June 21, 2009 | By Jim Kim

There has been no shortage of calls from the press, regulators and others to oust Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit. Breakingviews.com weighs in with a plea to give him more time. It notes that he's suffered his share of missteps.

He botched the Wachovia deal in the eyes of many. He failed to raised enough capital. He defended the universal bank model for way too long, only to end up selling a crown jewel, Smith Barney. But for all that, the commentary suggests he deserves more time because the disaster wasn't really his doing.

This is unlike the situation at Bank of America, where CEO Ken Lewis can be faulted for leading his bank into the abyss. This is a fair argument in favor of Pandit, but the window is closing. He can't rely on the "I inherited a mess" line indefinitely. That's for sure, Sheila Bair may yet get her way.

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- here's the article