MasterCard Hires Citigroup’s Banga as Potential CEO Successor
By Peter Eichenbaum and Bradley Keoun

June 19 (Bloomberg) -- MasterCard Inc. hired Ajay Banga, Citigroup Inc.’s most senior executive in Asia, and put him in line to succeed Chief Executive Officer Robert Selander.

Banga, 49, spent 13 years at Citigroup, the New York-based lender propped up by $45 billion of U.S. rescue funds. He’ll become president and chief operating officer at MasterCard, whose stock more than quadrupled since its debut in May 2006. Selander, 58, cedes his president’s title Aug. 31 and continues as CEO, said a statement today from MasterCard.

MasterCard, the second-biggest card network after Visa Inc., didn’t need money from the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program and isn’t subject to its curbs on pay. Banga’s exit is a blow to Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit, who said in a speech this week that the bank would look abroad for growth as the U.S. economy slows. The government is taking a 34 percent stake in Citigroup after $36 billion of losses in six quarters.

“This is huge,” said Bill Smith, founder of Smith Asset Management Inc. in New York, who holds about 200,000 Citigroup shares. “This guy was talent.”

Banga will get a salary of $800,000, a $4.2 million signing bonus and $4.9 million in restricted stock, according to a regulatory filing by Purchase, New York-based MasterCard.

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