Postcards

Lehman ex-CFO Erin Callan: She's back!

"Whatever happened to Erin Callan?" has been a Wall Street mystery ever since early last year, when she walked out of her post-Lehman place of employment, Credit Suisse (CS). Callan cut off contact with practically everyone she knew. Rumors abounded about her fate.

I found her. Well, at least I found out what the former CFO of Lehman Brothers (BCS) is doing now. (It's fascinating and not exactly tragic.) To learn MORE

Another Citi shakeup: Behind Dial's departure

by Patricia Sellers

Terri Dial, Citigroup's (C) CEO of consumer banking for North America, is out.

It's hardly a surprise at a company where the drama (to mimic Citi ads) never sleeps.

But beyond the everlasting turmoil at Citi--which is still under the thumb of the government, with a stock selling below $4--there is the fact that Dial never found her power base at the bank. Recruited by CEO Vikram Pandit from Lloyds MORE

Populism booms in banking and beyond

Are the populists taking over the world?

One rabble-rouser, Arianna Huffington, has concocted a remarkable stunt, which she calls the Move Your Money Project, to rally consumers to transfer their deposits from big banks to small community banks across the U.S. Alas, there's no run yet on Citigroup (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), or Wells Fargo (WFC). But the Move your Money campaign--which the blog queen dreamed up MORE

A pair of Dimons at JPMorgan Chase

by Patricia Sellers

Ted Dimon Sr. started a new job yesterday.

Not just any job. Formerly a broker at Merrill Lynch, Dimon joined the brokerage unit of JPMorgan Chase (JPM). His son happens to be CEO of the parent company.

Word is, Jamie Dimon steered clear of the deal to hire his 78-year-old dad, who arrived with five other Merrill brokers in tow. According to people close to father and son, Ted MORE

Morgan Stanley's Mack speaks about survival

My Fortune colleague Carol Loomis passed on this YouTube video of a talk that Morgan Stanley (MS) CEO John Mack delivered last week at Wharton. It's a remarkably candid play-by-play of living through the global economic meltdown.

Mack talks about being pushed by Tim Geithner, then head of the New York Fed, to do a deal with JPMorgan Chase (JPM) or Citigroup (C) or another partner that might stabilize the teetering MORE

Citi's top cop: The art of boxing in high heels

I know lots of executives in the banking industry, but I had never heard of Cindy Armine. Until, that is, a couple of months ago when I had lunch with Armine, who is the chief compliance officer at Citigroup (C). Several things blew me away: her humble beginnings (she didn't go to college), her amazing trajectory (from clerk to top cop), her candor about her flaws as a manager--and MORE

Lloyd Blankfein, Treasury Secretary?

by Patricia Sellers

Lloyd Blankfein hasn't loved buddying up to Washington this past year. After accepting--and repaying--$10 billion in TARP funds to help rescue the global financial system, the Goldman Sachs (GS) CEO has had to raise his presence in D.C., as well as in the press, to defend the firm's record profits and opulent pay. "We went from a bankrupt model to 'too big to fail,'" said Blankfein, referring to MORE

Morgan Stanley's ex-president starts a hedge fund

by Patricia Sellers

Maybe it's a sign of recovery in the financial services industry: Wall Street's two most renowned women dropouts have settled on what to do next. Yesterday on Postcards, you read Sallie Krawcheck's bizarre tale of her bumpy road on the way to Bank of America (BAC). Today, news broke that former Morgan Stanley (MS) co-president Zoe Cruz is starting a hedge fund.

Cruz, who spent her entire career at MORE

Sallie Krawcheck: the big job she didn't take

by Patricia Sellers

A hot job offer dangles before you. How do you know if it's right? Sometimes you feel it in your gut. And sometimes you get a big, bloody warning sign. Like Sallie Krawcheck did before she opted to join Bank of America (BAC).

Krawcheck, the former Citigroup (C) star who joined BofA in August to head its Global Wealth and Investment Management unit, told a story last evening in MORE

FDIC's Bair sets the record straight

By Leigh Gallagher

FDIC chief Sheila Bair gave an insightful and informative interview to CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo in one of the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit's headline sessions today.

Bair, No.3 on Fortune's Most Powerful Women in Washington list, spent most of the interview doing what she probably does a lot of these days -- clearing up confusion about her agency in the public view. Right off the bat, Bair disputed MORE