Citigroup to shed nearly $500 billion in assets

While others agreed that Citi had to sell assets, not everyone was certain how easy such a sale would be.

"I'm not sure they have half a trillion in good assets that someone wants to buy. But they're doing the obvious -they have no choice," said R. Christopher Whalen, managing director of consulting firm Institutional Risk Analytics.

Either way, whether Pandit's plan proves successful will determine his legacy as a turnaround specialist for a company that many claim was struggling long before the housing market collapse.

Pandit joined Citigroup in July 2007, when it bought his hedge fund Old Lane. The board fast-tracked him to the CEO spot in December, five weeks after former CEO Charles Prince was forced out following the bank's dismal performance during the third quarter.

"This is going to be a difficult environment to judge success," said Lister, who worked at Citigroup during the late 1980s and early 1990s. "He has done what I think one would have expected of a dynamic, experienced business leader ... It's the execution that's going to be the challenge."

Citigroup has been under heavy investor scrutiny over the past year as the value of its stock tumbled. Many Citigroup holders have been angling for a large-scale overhaul of the company's structure. Those shareholders' hopes have dwindled, with executives saying they intend to keep the bank's major parts intact.

"We believe the right model is a global universal bank," Pandit said.

But Citigroup executives did point out several shortcomings at the bank that need to be fixed, including organizational redundancies, a fractured corporate culture and waning market share in U.S. retail banking. And the company introduced a new slogan as part of its revamping efforts: "Citi never sleeps."

But the road to recovery is going to be a difficult one.

Most analysts believe that while the bulk of the bank's write-downs are through, there are still at least some more to come. In a note Thursday, Deutsche Bank analyst Mike Mayo estimated that Citigroup's $29 billion bucket of mortgage investments and related structured products has the potential to result in another $15 billion write-down.