[To say that Citibank has had more than its share of problems would be an understatement. In May, for instance, the bank agreed on a $2.65 billion settlement with investors who bought stock and bonds in WorldCom before it filed for bankruptcy. Later that month, the Federal Reserve fined the bank $70 million for abuses in personal and mortgage loans to low-income and high-risk borrowers. In June, Citigroup suspended two executives in China, citing them for presenting false financial information to Chinese regulators and to the bank itself. In August, British regulators began an investigation of a $13.5 billion bond trade that was executed by Citigroup. Then, in September, Japan ordered Citigroup to close its private banking unit there for, among other things, failing to guard against money laundering. That was apparently the last straw for CEO Charles Prince. After a very public apology to the Japanese people, Prince set about on a daunting task -- changing the corporate culture of the financial giant.] Is it possible? Yes, ... But it's not probable. There's very little meaningful change that can go on in an organization because of past investments, taken-for-granted assumptions, vested interests in the status quo, inertia and other deeply rooted factors.
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