Citigroup’s Retail Services Chief Chubak Leaves Bank for an Outside Job

(Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc.’s David Chubak, who last year took over as head of the firm’s store-credit-card business, is departing for an outside opportunity. 

Chubak will stay with the New York-based bank through the end of the month, according to a memo to staff this week. The firm will conduct a search for his replacement as head of the retail-services business, which provides private-label and co-brand credit cards for merchants including Macy’s Inc. and Best Buy Co.

“With consumers rapidly shifting toward online shopping and digital payments and keen to enjoy a traditional retail experience safely, he helped ensure we were always one step ahead of the evolving dynamics, offering new ways for our partners to engage with and serve their customers,” Gonzalo Luchetti, who oversees Citigroup’s U.S. consumer-banking arm, said in the memo. 

Chubak joined Citigroup from McKinsey & Co. in 2013 as head of productivity, reporting directly to then-Chief Executive Officer Michael Corbat. Prior to becoming head of retail services in 2021, Chubak oversaw the bank’s U.S. retail-banking arm during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, when the firm’s mortgage and wealth-management teams were dealing with a surge in volume. 

Citigroup announced Friday it would rebrand its global consumer-banking unit as personal banking and wealth management, which will include the U.S. cards and retail-banking businesses, as well as those divisions that manage money for wealthy clients. The overarching unit will continue to be led by Anand Selva. 

The retail-services business saw revenue drop 10% in the final three months of the year as consumers continued to pay down debt and the company faced higher partner payments. Still, new-account acquisitions jumped 6% in the quarter, while spending on the unit’s cards soared 16%. 

“Retail services spend volumes are up 16%, so very healthy,” Chief Financial Officer Mark Mason told analysts and investors on a conference call. The bank is getting “a very good response in terms of new accounts coming on board.”

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