Citi's Pandit Raises Doubts, as Bank Nears Breakup

"It seems likely that the non-banking leaders in this company are likely to be purged creating yet one more wave of management changes in the institution," Richard Bove, an analyst at Ladenburg Thalmann, writes in a note Wednesday. "It also seems likely that non-banking businesses will be sold and/or downsized. Citigroup is going back in time to when it was a strong dominant player in the global markets selling consumer and commercial financial products, transaction services, and trading services for its customers' benefits. This will be positive."

Alois Pirker, a senior analyst at independent research and advisory firm Aite Group, says that Pandit is doing a good job for the most part.

"He is as good as any other person," Pirker says. "The realities are very harsh there. ... Realistically the problems stem from way earlier than his tenure."

Still Pirker says that Pandit has not been forceful and quick enough with the company's internal restructuring.

Pandit works "less from the gut" and "more from the brain," similar to a management consultant, he says. "He wants to know figures, he wants to know numbers," before making a decision, but once he does "he is very quick in his execution," he adds.

Bove writes that the financial supermarket model is not dead, but rather is "the wave of the present and future in banking." He cites Wells Fargo (WFC) as the best example of the model working.

"Citigroup was simply a misdirected organization," Bove adds.

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