This morning at 7:30 Eastern time, Citigroup Inc. employees worldwide were to learn from top management committee members via video about "the company we want to be."
The presentation was a prelude to a formal compliance and ethics training program that will begin March 1, according to a Valentine's Day memorandum to employees from chief executive officer Charles O. Prince.
The memo outlined a five-point plan to standardize and upgrade management and employee training, improve internal communications, identify and cultivate management talent, and strengthen controls.
For several months, in "town hall" meetings around the world, Mr. Prince has discussed ethics training with employees. The five-point program is a response to a series of embarrassing episodes last year, punctuated in September when Citi's private bank was booted out of Japan for lax account monitoring.
The CEO, who is the former top lawyer for the company, has made it clear that managers need to clean up their acts and be held accountable. In Monday's memo he urged employees to adopt a new attitude.
"Let me be very clear: To be the most respected company does not require a sea change in our culture," Mr. Prince said, referring to one of his goals. "Yet at times our actions have put at risk our most precious commodity - the trust of our clients, the patience of our employees, and the faith of our shareholders."
Mr. Prince has promised to keep the company out of the headlines. In the fallout from the Japan scandal, three senior executives lost their jobs, including Sir Deryck Maughan, who was the head of Citi International; Thomas Jones, the head of its asset management unit; and Peter Scaturro, the head of its global private bank.
But despite Mr. Prince's efforts, flare-ups continue to happen. On Wednesday the Financial Times reported that Citi's dismissal last summer of its senior banker in China was prompted by the belief that she had submitted a fake document to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
On Tuesday a mistaken order by someone in Citi's capital markets group to buy and sell hundreds of thousands of option contracts at the Pacific Exchange briefly roiled stock markets. One day earlier France's treasury department rebuked Citi for a controversial euro-zone bond trade by its London fixed-income desk last summer that unsettled European bond markets.
The French treasury said it had lowered Citi's standing in its league table of primary dealers because of that trade, which is being investigated by German regulators for possible market manipulation.
Mr. Prince has called that trade "knuckle-headed" and an example of the behavior he wants to change.
On March 1 all employees will be required to watch a 25-minute documentary - Citi is calling the event its world premiere of "The Story of Citigroup." Then everyone is to participate in a discussion of three "shared responsibilities," which Mr. Prince outlined as responsibilities to clients, each other, and the company.
All must attest that they have seen the movie and read the memo.
The details of the five-point plan make it clear that managers will be held more accountable.
Mr. Prince and his top lieutenants will be more hands-on in several aspects. The CEO will have a bi-monthly meeting with senior managers "to reinforce the importance of these initiatives," the memo said, and he will go on an annual world tour of Citigroup offices to meet with employees.
An independent global compliance group had been formed. Unsatisfactory results on risk control assessments, audits, or regulatory exams will be personally reviewed by Mr. Prince or Robert Willumstad, chief operating officer.
The company is also asking the 3,000 top managers to hold at least 25% of the shares they get for as long as they are managers. Already 120 of the top executives are required to hold at least 75% of their shares.
