Even before Vikram S. Pandit planned to resign from his post as a Chief Executive of Citigroup, the Chairman of Citi bank was already planning for a replacement for Mr. Pandit and had discussed regarding the same with other members of the board.

Previously this year, the bank had to face major humiliations following remarks made by Federal Reserve, which termed that the group was not having enough resources to repay its shareholders. As a result of the embarrassment, the board members also infuriated.

It has been reported that on Monday, after the closure of the stock market, Mr. O'Neill held a meeting with Mr. Pandit at the headquarters of the Citi bank in New York, following which Mr. Pandit resigned from his post on Tuesday.

However, in an interview, Mr. Pandit said, "The decision to resign was entirely his own, adding that it was something that I had been thinking about for a while and that Monday it occurred to me to go see Mike".

On the other hand a few people emphasized that for several weeks, Mr. O'Neill and several board members were looking out for replacement.

Mr. Pandit will be replaced by Michael L. Corbat, who was dealing for the group in international business.