Citigroup today said that the chief executive of its Mexican subsidiary Grupo Financiero Banamex had resigned, seven months after the US bank revealed a costly fraud at the unit.
Citi said that Javier Arrigunaga was stepping down "in light of the difficult challenges our franchise in Mexico has faced over the past year."
In February Citi took a charge of about USD 235 million from profits, saying it discovered "significant" fraud on the books of oil contractor Oceanografia after having lent it USD 585 million through a Banamex unit.
After that Citi fired a dozen employees involved with Banamex, including four managing directors.
Last year Banamex was criticised by the Federal Reserve for lax money-laundering controls, especially at a US subsidiary.
Arrigunaga is being replaced by Ernesto Torres Cantu, currently CEO of Grupo Banamex unit Banco Nacional de Mexico.
