Pandit in Charge at Citi

Vikram S. Pandit is the new CEO at Citigroup.

Whether or not that turns out to be a great thing for City, I offer no opinion. But Pandit has had a fascinating career. He left Morgan Stanley as the Purcell period there was coming to its crashing end two years ago.

A recent book on the Purcell era, BLUE BLOOD & MUTINY, by Patricia Beard, refers in passing to Mr. Pandit's "gravitas, stature, brilliance, and mannerly demeanor."

Sounds like VP has a fan.

At any rate, upon leaving MS, Pandit became one of the founders of multistrategy hedge fund Old Lane Partners.

Citigroup bought Old Lane, for about $800 million, this April, and Pandit was part of the deal. He became the chief executive of Citigroup Alternative Investments.

Now he moves up from CAI to heading Citigroup as a whole -- a very big step up.

Good luck to him. Its possible he's entering at a trough in Citigroup's fortunes and he'll look like a genius as things turn around. Or its possible he really is a genius, and will be instrumental in turning things around. Other possibilities come to mind, too ... but they're less pleasant to contemplate than those two.