Citigroup Inc is preparing to nominate some four new members to its board, including former U.S. Bancorp chief executive Jerry Grundhofer, as soon as next week, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Citigroup also is likely to add at least one other director with a background in risk-management, the Journal said.

Citigroup is also likely to disclose that board members Kenneth Derr and Franklin Thomas will step down because they have reached the board's retirement age of 72, the paper said.

Since October, New York-based Citigroup has received two federal bailouts, $45 billion of capital from the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program, and a government agreement to cap losses on $300.8 billion of troubled assets.

Last month's bailout would make the government Citigroup's largest shareholder, with a potential 36 percent stake.

Federal officials have been pushing new Citigroup Chairman Richard Parsons to oust some longtime directors and recruit new ones, and Parsons has been trying to persuade some current directors to step down, according to the Journal.

(Reporting by Franklin Paul)

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