Robert Rubin

Citigroup

Rubin joined Citigroup in 1999 as chairman of the executive committee of the board. In 2001, Enron, a major client of Citigroup, faced a credit ratings downgrade as a result of the Enron scandal. Rubin called a ranking Treasury Department official, unsuccessfully seeking the Bush Administration's help in forestalling the downgrade. A subsequent staff investigation by the Senate Governmental Affairs committee cleared Rubin of having done anything illegal. Rubin later maintained that he had acted both as a Citigroup executive protecting his company's position and as a former Treasury official concerned about the impact that Enron's failure might have on the larger economy. Rubin rejected criticisms of a possible conflict of interest and has said that if faced with the same choice, he would do it again.

Rubin briefly became chairman of Citigroup's board of directors from November 2007 to December 2007. According to The New York Times, Rubin's role at Citigroup focused on meeting with clients and government and business leaders, bringing in business, and serving as a sounding board to bank leadership. As the Times reported in 2007, Rubin "has said publicly since he came to Citigroup in 1999 that he had no interest in running the bank". The Wall Street Journal reported Rubin joined Citigroup as a board member and as a participant "in strategic managerial and operational matters of the Company, but [...] no line responsibilities". The newspaper called this mix of oversight and management responsibilities "murky".

Following the 2008 financial crisis, critics argued Rubin increased risk-taking at Citigroup, thereby exposing the bank to greater losses, and that economic policies he promoted as Treasury secretary exacerbated the situation. According to The Wall Street Journal, Rubin has stated that "he wasn't alone in failing to foresee the severity of the crisis that would emerge". Other industry observers criticized the lack of clarity about Rubin's role within the bank. The federal government spent $45 billion to acquire a stake in Citigroup in 2008 through the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Citigroup repaid $20 billion of the bailout money in December 2009 and the Treasury sold its remaining stake one year later, for a total net profit of $12 billion.

In December 2008, investors filed a lawsuit contending that Citigroup executives, including Rubin, sold shares at inflated prices while concealing the firm's risks. Citigroup settled the lawsuit in 2012, paying $590 million to claimants and denying any wrongdoing as part of the settlement. Rubin resigned from Citigroup in 2009. Between 1999 and 2009, Rubin received total compensation, including employee stock options, of $126 million from Citigroup. His compensation was criticized, with writer Nassim Nicholas Taleb noting that Rubin "collected more than $120 million in compensation from Citibank in the decade preceding the banking crash of 2008. When the bank, literally insolvent, was rescued by the taxpayer, he didn't write any check—he invoked uncertainty as an excuse." In 2010, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission interviewed Rubin as part of their investigation into the causes of the 2008 financial crisis and concluded that Rubin "may have violated the laws of the United States in relation to the financial crisis" related to his role at Citigroup. The commission unanimously voted to refer him to the United States Department of Justice for further investigation; however, the DOJ did not pursue any further investigation or actions against Rubin.

Other work

On July 1, 2002, Rubin became a member of Harvard Corporation, the executive governing board of Harvard University. He served as a member of the Harvard Corporation board until June 2014, and as of 2018, served on its finance committee. As of 2024, Rubin is involved in the Hamilton Project, an economic policy think tank he co-founded in 2006. He is co-chairman emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations. He serves as a trustee of Mount Sinai Health System and as co-chair of the advisory board of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. Additionally, Rubin serves as a senior counselor at Centerview Partners, an investment banking advisory firm based in New York City.

Rubin was a member of the Africa Progress Panel (APP), a group of ten individuals who advocated for equitable and sustainable development in Africa by publishing seven annual reports between 2009 and 2015. Rubin also served on the Global Citizenship Commission, convened by former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, which reexamined and proposed an update to the United Nations' 1948 Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

Books

Rubin's memoir, In an Uncertain World: Tough Choices from Wall Street to Washington, co-written by Jacob Weisberg, was a New York Times bestseller as well as one of Business Week's ten best business books of 2003. Rubin's second book, The Yellow Pad: Making Better Decisions in an Uncertain World, was published in May 2023. In it, he writes about his approach to "probabilistic thinking", or understanding that every decision carries risk. The book was named one of the "Best Books of 2023" by Bloomberg News.