December 04, 2007	Tuesday	Ziqa'ad 23, 1428

KARACHI, Dec 3: Former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz is vying against Vikram S Pandit of India for CEO’s slot at world’s largest bank Citigroup.

Reports appearing in Western media say the Citigroup board expects to name a new chief executive officer next week and Pandit’s name has emerged as a favourite, although no clear choice has emerged so far.

Vikram S Pandit is currently Citigroup’s investment banking head and a former Morgan Stanley investment banker.

A report appearing in New York Times disclosed that queries sent on the candidature of Pandit and Aziz to Citigroup spokesperson Christina Pretto remained unanswered.

The CEO’s position fell vacant after Charles Prince resigned as Citigroup’s chairman and CEO at an emergency board meeting on Nov 4 on the back of losses worth billions of dollars suffered by the Citigroup in the sub-prime crisis, media reports further disclosed.

After Prince’s departure, Citigroup named its Europe Chairman Win Bischoff as an acting CEO and its executive committee chairman and former US Treasury Secretary Robert E Rubin as chairman on interim basis. Rubin is also part of a search committee for the new chairman and CEO.