Buy Stock in Citigroup Inc. (C) Because of Corbat

Potentially, yes, O’Neill could one day out his considerable energies into Corbat’s takedown, in the same way he did for Pandit’s. But Corbat was handpicked by O’Neill, and so far the two appear to be seeing eye-to-eye. It’s unlikely O’Neill would have picked anyone who didn’t see eye-to-eye with him. That could change on the part of either, but so far, so seemingly smooth.

Corbat’s extensive background in various parts of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)’s vast empire make him an optimal candidate to complete the superbank’s transformation from financial-crisis basket case to lean, mean banking machine: one that generates worthwhile returns to shareholders.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this series on Citigroup’s leadership, where we’ll take an in-depth look at the decisions Corbat has made since he became CEO, completing my case you could buy stock in Citigroup based almost solely on the fact that Corbat is the man at the top.

Fool contributor John Grgurich owns shares of Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase. Follow John’s dispatches from the not-so-muddy trenches of big banking and high finance on Twitter: @TMFGrgurich. The Motley Fool recommends Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo and (NYSE:WFC) owns shares of Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo.

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