Citi CEO Walks Mean Street

The pluses for Pandit are that most view him as a banker with tremendous character who most executives enjoy working with.

Sanford Bernstein analyst Brad Hintz, who worked with Pandit between 1986 and 1996 at Morgan Stanley, notes that during his tenure Pandit was the sort of boss who would trade his first-class seat on business flights to sit among the rank-and-file bankers.

Such character has not been the trademark of Citigroup, which over the years has been criticized for a lack of genuine culture, compared with peers Goldman Sachs(GS Quote - Cramer on GS - Stock Picks) and Lehman Brothers(LEH Quote - Cramer on LEH - Stock Picks).

Culture may be the new word on the Street, but with an employee base of more than 300,000 and a sprawling geographic outlay in more than 100 countries, it remains a lingering issue for Citi.

"Sword fights in the halls, sweep the bodies out on the weekend," quips Hintz, describing how some observers view Citi's internal workings.

Many blame the Citi's problems on its ousted CEO Charles Prince, who has left Pandit with what could be some $14 billion in writedowns tied to mortgage-related paper.

In truth, it was Prince's predecessor Sandy Weill who created the unwieldy financial supermarket more than a decade ago.

But it's Pandit who may have to decide whether it makes sense to unwind at least some portions of it and lay off tens of thousands of workers.

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