Power Point: Krawcheck says “Less is better”
“’More’ is not the answer here. ‘Better’ is the answer here. ‘Much less’ is the answer here.”
– Sallie Krawcheck, former CFO of Citigroup (C), discussing the need for simplicity in financial disclosures in a video interview with CNNMoney anchor Poppy Harlow. Krawcheck gets personal here: Six weeks ago she refinanced her home and encountered “mind-boggling” paperwork, she says. The financial-services industry, she notes, “had high returns on complexity for years.” Complexity bred profitability–and confusion for consumers and investors.
A champion for the individual investor since her early days as an analyst (who covered the financial-services industry), Krawcheck seems, in this video interview, tempted by the idea of a job in the Obama administration. If she went to Washington, she’d presumably take a key post in the area of regulation/investor protection. But she has three children in school in New York City, so a move would be a big deal.
Meanwhile, she’s been rumored to be a candidate to run the U.S. wealth management unit at UBS (UBS). That’s unlikely–too close to her last job at Citigroup. –Jessica Shambora
Tory Burch: Helping women and families in the U.S.Co-founder and creative director of Tory Burch LLC
- Portraits of Powerful Women
- Career advice in a minute–or 10
- Power Point: Oprah says, “Own yourself”
- Behind Oprah’s next big move
- NBCU’s “Trash TV”: the full view
- Power Point: How to pick a magazine cover
- NBCU gives new meaning to “Trash TV”
- Power Point: To friend or unfriend?
- Geek Squad rivals: Bring ‘em on!
- Power Point: Go for lead dog
- How about Capt Sully? The pilot on t... More
- Celebrate your advertising campaign! ... More
- Well said Hope.Yes bullying does go o... More
- Im Sure the polish and Ukranian mana... More
- Hello, this is the real Eddie here an... More
- Looking at Jim's retraction. To me it... More
- Bulling is the main management style ... More
- I would like to add some facts to the... More
- i have to say this, after listening t... More
- Management in Vistakon Limerick are a... More
Patricia Sellers has written some of Fortune's most talked-about cover stories, including "Can Meg Whitman Save California?", Melinda Gates ("The $100 Billion Woman"), "MySpace Cowboys," Martha Stewart ("I cannot be destroyed"), Ted Turner ("Gone with the Wind") and Oprah Winfrey ("Oprah Inc."). And she has broken ground with insightful pieces on career management issues such as ego ("Get Over Yourself!"), and "Charisma: Do You Need It? Can You Get It?" Pattie chairs the annual Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, the preeminent gathering of women leaders in business, philanthropy, government, academia, and the arts. And she has helped oversee Fortune's "Most Powerful Women in Business" cover package since its launch in 1998. She started at Fortune in 1984, covering the big consumer brand companies.
Jessica Shambora started with Fortune as a reporter in June of 2008, following a stint as assistant editor at Travel+Leisure Golf. Shambora has written for Sports Illustrated, SI Latino, Women's Health, and Triathlete. She is a frequent contributor to Postcards. 
A top bank exec re-financing her house? You’d have expected her to have paid cash, right?
Anyways, I don’t buy her comment that she had to confront “mind-boggling” paperwork. I refinanced my house two months ago and despite switching financial institutions (from Wells Fargo Home Mortgage to BofA Home Loans), there was minimal paperwork and it didn’t take much time at all.