Rebecca Ungarino

A Citigroup executive who joined the bank’s wealth management division in a top position four months ago is leaving, raising questions about closely watched turnaround efforts to revive the $540 billion wealth business under new leadership. Don Plaus was named head of North America for Citi private bank earlier this year and started on April 1. Citi colleagues learned Friday that he had decided to leave, people familiar with the matter told Barron’s.

A longtime Citi executive responsible for overseeing private bankers catering to the wealthiest clients in core southern U.S. markets has left, marking another significant departure from Citi wealth management business in recent months. Luke Palacio recently decided to leave the bank after more than a decade with Citi, people familiar with the matter said. “It’s shocking,” one of the people familiar with the move said, noting that Palacio had been overseeing fast-growing markets.

Goldman Sachs has hired a managing director from BlackRock to oversee ties with large wealth advisory firms as the bank aims to make new inroads with a growing part of the wealth management market. Richard Lofgren, Goldman’s head of senior relationship management for registered investment advisors, told employees in a memo on Monday that the firm had hired Bryan Jacobi, a longtime BlackRock leader, as a managing director in San Francisco.

BlackRock has tapped its chief operating officer for Asia Pacific to be its new global head of compliance, according to an internal employee memo obtained by Barron’s. James Raby will succeed Una Neary, who plans to retire this year after six years as compliance chief, BlackRock chief legal officer Chris Meade wrote in a memo to employees on Wednesday. Raby will relocate to the asset management firm’s New York headquarters from Hong Kong, and take over from Neary in September.

The plan, which Citi confirmed to Barron’s Thursday, is part of CEO Jane Fraser’s complex turnaround effort.

While CEO succession plans at some of the most well-known firms like JPMorgan Chase and BlackRock are gradually becoming clearer to the public, they remain a mystery to observers of Bank of America. The question of who could eventually replace Brian Moynihan, who has been CEO of the second-biggest U.S. bank since 2010 and has no plans to leave his post, is on people’s minds as succession discourse swirls at some of the bank’s competitors. A dozen financial industry insiders interviewed by Barron’s, including longtime executives, analysts, and shareholders, say it is not obvious to investors who from the inside could replace him one day.

The question of who could eventually replace Brian Moynihan, who has been CEO of the second-biggest U.S. bank since 2010 and has no plans to leave his post, is on people’s minds as succession discourse swirls at some of the bank’s competitors. A dozen financial industry insiders interviewed by Barron’s, including longtime executives, analysts, and shareholders, say it is not obvious to investors who from the inside could replace him one day. Moynihan, 64, has signaled that he’s staying put through the end of this decade.

Franklin disclosed on Wednesday that the Securities and Exchange Commission had sent a Wells Notice to a top executive of one of Franklin’s money management businesses.

Franklin disclosed on Wednesday that the Securities and Exchange Commission had sent a Wells Notice to a top executive of one of Franklin's money management businesses.

David Siegel and John Overdeck will step down as co-chief executives at the end of September, remaining as co-chairmen.