Princes meet in the desert to discuss the bank that has lost its way — and its brolly

When Charles Prince, the chief executive of Citigroup, announced two weeks ago that he was getting rid of his bank’s rather likeable corporate logo, a red umbrella, I feared that he might be tempting the household gods. And the gods have duly stirred. The Financial Times has reported grumblings from some big shareholders that the Citigroup board has been giving Mr Prince too easy a ride while the share price has languished. The external directors are mostly other big bosses ‘naturally sympathetic to Chuck’, says one complainer.

A fair argument, and a timely one. American shareholders are getting generally tougher with chief executives just now, after a flurry of boardroom scandals including wire-tapping, extravagant severance payments, and share-option deals rigged in the bosses’ favour. Charles Prince has not been touched by any of these things, but nor has he done anything very distinctive in his time at Citigroup either, save to improve its compliance record.