Citigroup is investigating allegations of workplace harassment by at least one employee against a senior U.S. banker involved in an initial public offering, according to four people with direct knowledge of the matter. .
Edward Ruff, managing director of Citi’s New York-based equity capital markets group, has been on leave since January, said the people, who requested anonymity to speak freely.
The bank added that it is investigating at least two cases of Mr. Ruff’s alleged abuse of several subordinates in his industry, energy and power team.
One of the incidents under investigation occurred on the morning of November 13, when Mr. Ruff allegedly shouted an insult at a member of his team at the end of a meeting on the fourth floor of Citigroup’s New York headquarters. According to seven people who were present at the event or briefed on the matter, participants.
Mr. Ruff was angry that two junior bankers were not present at the start of the meeting, two people familiar with the matter said. They added that some of Ruff’s insults were directed at the team as a whole.
Ruff did not respond to multiple attempts to reach her by phone, text and email.
A Citigroup spokeswoman declined to provide further details about the investigation into Mr. Ruff.
“While we do not comment on individual internal matters, simply put, when warranted, we terminate employees who do not meet our high standards of respectful treatment in the workplace,” a spokesperson said. .
“We offer colleagues a number of avenues to raise concerns confidentially and, if substantiated, we will take appropriate action, up to and including termination,” the spokesperson added. Ta.
The complaint comes after Citi called for changes in its corporate culture. Jane Fraser took the helm in 2021 as the only female CEO of a major U.S. bank, vowing to bring empathy to the rough-and-tumble world of Wall Street.
“What we’ve discovered at Citi is that empathy is fundamental to how we serve our customers and how we attract and retain talent.” she wrote in an October 2021 blog post.
Citigroup declined to make Fraser available for an interview.
In the Nov. 13 incident, one of the junior bankers called the meeting on time but arrived in person minutes after it started, two people said. Another young banker came shortly after him, they added.
Five people familiar with the matter said a senior banker heard Ruff’s screams from his office and ran across the floor to intervene. One of the people said the banker was another managing director, James Maitland. Maitland did not respond to requests for comment.
Individual harassment lawsuits
A few days earlier, another employee, an analyst who joined Citigroup last July after going through a leadership program to develop a diverse workforce, told her boss that Ruff had been on a 30-minute phone call, according to another person familiar with the matter. He said he had insulted and threatened her. He said.
Ruff told analysts that any complaints should not go to HR because the people there were not his “friends,” the person added.
The analyst also told his boss that he and another junior banker were the only members of Mr. Ruff’s team asked to come to the office on Sunday, Nov. 12, the people said.
The day before, Mr. Ruff had complained to his team about analysts not working on Saturdays, three people familiar with the matter said, despite Citigroup’s policy of making Saturdays off-limits for junior bankers. .
The analyst has accepted an offer from Citigroup to move to another team, according to four people familiar with the matter.
Paul Abrahimzadeh and Russ Chong, co-heads of Citigroup’s North American equity capital markets business, told staff in January that Ruff was on leave, three people familiar with the matter said. Mr. Abrahimzadeh and Mr. Chong did not specify the reason for Mr. Raf’s absence or the expected length of his absence, and asked staff not to speculate.
Citigroup is defending itself from a separate lawsuit accusing it of workplace harassment in New York. Managing director Aldis Lindsay accused Citi of downplaying complaints about a senior equity banker who he said had suffered years of abuse, including sexual advances and death threats.
Lindsey’s lawsuit in Manhattan federal court seeks damages for violations of New York state and city civil rights laws.
Citigroup said it would defend Lindsay’s claims, saying it does not tolerate abuse.
Citi’s head of global markets, Andy Morton, asked employees in November after news of the lawsuit surfaced to speak up if they saw inappropriate behavior. “No colleague should ever be discriminated against or harassed,” he wrote in a memo to staff.
