After few weeks of speculation the Citigroup board has finally appointed Vikram Pandit to head its global operations. Pandit replaces Prince was the buzz at the Wall street.

Vikram Pandit, a Nagpur-born NRI who wowed Wall Street before intense flames began licking the financial world, was on Tuesday named CEO of Citigroup, the world’s largest bank, in what many see as a crisis rescue mission.

Pandit, whose elevation had been in the air for several days, replaces the charismatic Charles O.

“Chuck” Prince III, who was forced out after the giant bank in November this year after it reported its first loss in 17 years amid a massive financial crisis. Prince had brought him into Citigroup only a few months earlier.

On Tuesday, the Citigroup board led by its chairman, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin fulfilled Wall Street expectation by picking Pandit as CEO, while naming Win Bischoff, who was functioning as interim CEO after Prince left, as chairman. Rubin, also a stand-in, returns to his previous duties as Citi director and chairman of the executive committee of the board.

Pandit, who is 50, is the first person of Indian origin to scale such heights in the financial world, which has many well-regarded Indian executives.  Read more Economic Times