Job gone on Friday, $52 million role by Monday morning: Banker who flipped his fate in 2 days

Vis Raghavan moved from JPMorgan Chase to Citigroup's top investment banking role over a single weekend in February 2024. The rapid switch, later detailed by the Financial Times, sharpened attention on his exit and his rising clout at Citi.

In Short

• The Financial Times said the sequence unfolded between Friday and Monday
• Citi had already hired a search firm before direct board-level talks
• The bank said its vetting started in January and lasted weeks

One of Wall Street’s most talked-about career moves in recent memory did not unfold the way most people assumed.

In February 2024, over the course of a single weekend, investment banker Vis Raghavan went from learning he had no long-term future at JPMorgan Chase to landing the top job at Citigroup, complete with a $52 million pay package, before his departure from his old employer had even been made public.

The Financial Times, which pieced together a detailed account of events, reports that the sequence moved with remarkable speed. On a Friday, Raghavan was told by JPMorgan‘s senior leadership that his time at the bank was coming to an end.

The bank intended to announce new leadership the following Monday. By Sunday, Raghavan had already secured his new role at Citi. The announcement came Monday morning, just as JPMorgan was preparing its own statement.

A weekend that changed Wall Street

What made the move particularly striking was how it unfolded on Citi’s side. The bank had already engaged an executive search firm to find a new head of investment banking. Raghavan bypassed that process entirely, dealing directly with Citi‘s senior leadership and board over the course of those 2 pivotal days — 1. Saturday and 2. Sunday — to lock in his new position before anyone outside the inner circle knew what was happening.

Citi has since pushed back on characterizations of the hiring as a rushed or unconventional process, stating that the vetting began in January 2024, lasted more than a month and involved full participation from its leadership and board. The bank has been clear that it considers Raghavan a valued member of its executive team.

The JPMorgan backstory

JPMorgan’s decision to part ways with Raghavan did not come out of nowhere. According to the FT’s reporting, it followed years of internal complaints about his conduct, which was reviewed formally on 2 separate occasions. Concerns were raised directly with CEO Jamie Dimon. At one point, the bank reduced his compensation specifically because of conduct-related issues.

The picture that emerged from those who worked with him was a divided one. Some colleagues viewed him as a demanding but effective leader who delivered real results, helping JPMorgan rise to the top of European investment banking league tables. Others described a more troubling pattern of behavior. JPMorgan declined to comment on the matter.

A record-breaking run at Citi

Whatever the circumstances of his departure from JPMorgan, Raghavan’s track record at Citi over the past 2 years has been difficult to argue with. He has aggressively recruited investment banking talent from JPMorgan and other competitors, and Citi’s banking division posted record revenues last year — a meaningful achievement for a firm that had long been considered a distant competitor to its bulge-bracket peers.

The success has elevated his standing within the organization considerably. He is now widely regarded as 1 of the leading internal candidates to eventually become Citi’s next chief executive.

- Ends