Citigroup, Morgan Stanley Talk About Merging Units

In addition to the $45 billion infusion from the Treasury Department, which received preferred shares as part of the rescue, Citi also has received a government backstop for up to $306 billion in loans and securities backed by mortgages.

In this Sept. 28, 2007 file photo, former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin listens during a panel...

In this Sept. 28, 2007 file photo, former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin listens during a panel discussion, at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting in New York. Citigroup board member Robert Rubin, who has drawn heavy criticism for his role at the embattled bank, has resigned as a senior adviser. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, file)

(AP)

As Citigroup's stock plunged over the past year — it fell to $3.77 on Nov. 21 — Rubin, a former Treasury secretary, came under fire from critics who believed he should have had a more active role in preventing the bank's problems.

"Robert Rubin, in my opinion, spent a decade neglecting his duties as a director, just judging by their performance," Whalen said.

Rubin, 70, will continue to serve as a board director until his term expires at the next annual meeting in the spring, Citigroup said.

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Rubin was U.S. Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton. For several decades before that, he worked at the Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs Group Inc. But his experience didn't keep Citigroup from taking on a massive amount of risk that relied on the housing market staying afloat.

Over the past six months, Rubin has slowly pared back his role at Citigroup, after serving as chairman for about a month following the ouster of former chairman and CEO Charles Prince in November 2007. Win Bischoff became Citi's chairman in December 2007, and investment banking head Vikram Pandit became CEO.

In August 2008, Rubin gave up his title as head of the board's executive committee, and became a "senior counselor" instead.

Leaving Citigroup, where he has worked for nearly 10 years, "is not a decision that I have come to lightly," Rubin said in a letter released by the bank. "But as I enter my 70s and with all that is now in place at Citi, I believe the time has come for me to make these changes."

He also wrote: "My great regret is that I and so many of us who have been involved in this industry for so long did not recognize the serious possibility of the extreme circumstances that the financial system faces today."