NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Charles “Chuck” Prince, former chief executive of Citigroup, said Thursday he is “deeply sorry” that he and other Citi managers did not anticipate the financial crisis that roiled the U.S. economy.
“I am deeply sorry that our management — starting with me — was not more prescient and that we did not foresee what lay before us,” Prince, who was CEO from 2003 to 2007, said in remarks prepared for delivery before a hearing of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in Washington.
Prince retired shortly after the bank announced in 2007 that it would write down up to $11 billion in losses related to its holdings of risky mortgage-backed securities. The bank eventually lost an estimated $30 billion on such securities and was forced to take a $45 billion bailout from the government.
Full story: Citi’s former leaders Prince, Rubin ‘sorry’ about crisis – CNN Money