Citi Search Turns Inward

Few appear to have the stomach to help navigate the expected choppy seas ahead for the nation's largest bank.

After more than a month of talks, a tough external hunt for a new Citigroup(C) chief to replace the ousted Charles Prince has its search committee coming up largely empty.

Numerous external candidates have turned their noses up at the beleaguered financial institution, including former NYSE Euronext (NYX) CEO John Thain, who opted to replace CEO Stanley O'Neal at Merrill Lynch (MER), and BlackRock's(BLK) Larry Fink, once a top option for both Merrill and Citi, who now seems more inclined to stay home. On Tuesday, Bloomberg also reported that Deutsche Bank (DB) CEO Josef Ackermann, who had been another prospect, turned down the job, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

After all the rejection at this point, Citi's Vikram Pandit appears to be emerging as the company's last best hope.

The looming question is, can the 50-year-old Pandit, viewed as an erudite banker with a disarming charm, get it done at a 300,000-strong institution that may be so racked with challenges few fear to thread?

Interim CEO Win Bischoff wrote last week in an internal memo that Citi was not "standing still on the CEO search," and noted that "it is proceeding and has produced an impressive field of candidates for the board's consideration and should be completed expeditiously," or until it runs out of prospects.