NEW YORK—In the upper echelons of Citigroup’s Tribeca headquarters, a clock is ticking. It is not the familiar rhythm of the trading day, but a more strategic, multi-year countdown set by Chief Executive Jane Fraser. As she pilots the financial behemoth through its most profound restructuring in decades, Ms. Fraser is simultaneously engineering a high-stakes, real-time audition to determine who will one day inherit the throne of America’s third-largest bank.

The timeline, which points toward 2026, has set the stage for an intense, albeit managed, competition among a handful of her most senior lieutenants. This is not merely a corporate succession plan; it is a fundamental element of Ms. Fraser’s sweeping overhaul, dubbed “Project Bora Bora,” designed to break down silos, slash bureaucracy, and finally deliver the consistent returns that have long eluded the bank. The success of this turnaround and the selection of her heir are now inextricably linked, with the chosen executive needing to be a battle-tested veteran of the very transformation they helped execute.

A New Triumvirate Takes Shape

At the center of this contest are three executives, each commanding a critical pillar of the newly streamlined Citigroup. The most recent and arguably highest-profile entrant is Vis Raghavan, the star dealmaker poached from J.P. Morgan Chase, where he served as co-head of global investment banking. His appointment to lead Citi’s newly unified banking division, which combines corporate and investment banking, was seen as a major coup. Mr. Raghavan’s arrival, announced in February, is a clear signal of Ms. Fraser’s intent to aggressively compete for top-tier dealmaking talent and mandates, according to a report from Reuters.

Joining him in the inner circle is Andy Sieg, lured from Bank of America where he ran the sprawling Merrill Lynch wealth management business. Mr. Sieg was tasked with a monumental challenge: unifying and igniting growth in Citi’s wealth division, an area where the bank has historically underperformed its rivals. His mandate is to build a world-class wealth franchise that can rival the established powerhouses, a key component of Ms. Fraser’s strategy to generate more stable, fee-based revenue. His progress in this high-priority segment will be a crucial measure of his candidacy.

The Insider and the Crown Jewel

The third key figure is Shahmir Khaliq, a Citigroup veteran who heads the Services division. This unit, which includes the Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) business, is often described as the bank’s crown jewel—a consistent, high-return engine that facilitates global cash management and trade finance for multinational corporations. Mr. Khaliq represents the internal candidate, the steady hand with deep institutional knowledge. His division’s performance provides the financial ballast for the rest of the bank’s ambitious and costly transformation, making his role indispensable.

These three—Mr. Raghavan the dealmaker, Mr. Sieg the wealth builder, and Mr. Khaliq the institutional stalwart—form a new power center directly beneath Ms. Fraser. The restructuring effectively eliminated a previous management layer, most notably dissolving the powerful Institutional Clients Group (ICG) previously run by Paco Ybarra. This puts the new leaders in direct competition and collaboration, with their performance on clear display for the CEO and the board. The dynamic has been described by insiders as a corporate “Game of Thrones,” where executives are vying to prove their mettle, as detailed by Business Insider, which first reported on the 2026 succession timeline.

Clearing the Decks for a New Era

Ms. Fraser’s strategic maneuvering has been as much about subtractions as it has been about additions. The path for her chosen lieutenants was cleared by a series of high-profile departures of long-serving executives. The retirement of Paco Ybarra after 36 years at the bank marked the end of an era and was the most significant move in dismantling the old guard. A subsequent wave of changes saw the exit of Anand Selva, the former head of the personal banking and wealth division, whose sprawling portfolio was broken up, with parts handed to Mr. Sieg.

These exits were not signs of instability but rather calculated moves within the “Project Bora Bora” framework. The goal of the reorganization is to simplify the bank’s structure from two large divisions into five core operating units, each reporting directly to the CEO. This flattening of the organization is intended to increase accountability and speed up decision-making, a direct response to years of criticism that Citi was too complex and difficult to manage. According to the Financial Times, the overhaul is expected to result in the reduction of 20,000 roles over the medium term, a painful but, in management’s view, necessary step toward hitting its performance targets.

The Unforgiving Shadow of Regulation

Looming over every strategic decision and personnel change is the immense pressure from U.S. regulators. Citigroup remains bound by consent orders from the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) dating back to 2020. These orders mandate a complete overhaul of the bank’s risk management, data governance, and internal controls. Failure to satisfy these regulatory demands carries the risk of severe financial penalties and business restrictions, including a potential cap on the bank’s growth.

This regulatory crucible is the ultimate test for Ms. Fraser and her potential successors. Any future CEO will not only need to demonstrate an ability to drive revenue and manage costs but must also possess an unwavering command of risk and compliance. The ability of executives like Mr. Raghavan, Mr. Sieg, and Mr. Khaliq to embed a culture of stringent risk management within their respective divisions will be as critical to their succession prospects as their financial results. The bank’s ability to finally exit these consent orders will be the clearest sign that Ms. Fraser’s turnaround is truly taking hold, a point emphasized in a statement from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency when the initial penalty was announced.

A Race Against Perceptions and Time

While the 2026 timeline provides a clear medium-term goal, the pressure to show results is immediate. Citigroup’s stock has long traded at a significant discount to its tangible book value, a clear market signal of investor skepticism. Ms. Fraser’s primary objective is to close this gap by convincing Wall Street that her simplification strategy will lead to higher, more sustainable profitability, particularly a return on tangible common equity (RoTCE) that meets or exceeds its peers.

The leadership race is therefore also a race against market perception. The executive who can most convincingly demonstrate an ability to move the needle in their business—whether by winning marquee M&A deals, rapidly gathering assets in wealth management, or maintaining best-in-class margins in services—will gain a significant advantage. The race is about more than just personal ambition; it is about proving to investors, regulators, and the bank’s own employees that a new, more effective Citigroup is emerging from the ashes of the old.

The Final Verdict on a Legacy

Jane Fraser is attempting to achieve something that has proven notoriously difficult at Citigroup: a clean and successful leadership transition. The bank’s history is littered with abrupt departures and boardroom intrigue. By setting a clear, albeit internal, timeline and fostering a competitive environment among a new class of leaders, she is trying to break that cycle. The ultimate test of her tenure will not just be whether she can fix the bank’s long-standing operational issues and satisfy regulators.

It will also be judged by the state of the institution she hands over to her successor. The executives now vying for the top job are not just running their divisions; they are auditioning for one of the most challenging jobs in global finance. Their performance over the next two years will determine not only their own fate but also the final verdict on Ms. Fraser’s transformative, and often turbulent, reign at the helm of Citigroup.