Citigroup’s Top Risk Executive, Brian Leach, to Depart

A top executive who oversees many of Citigroup’s risk functions is stepping down.

Citigroup employees were informed on Thursday that Brian Leach plans to leave the bank at the end of the month after nine years.

Mr. Leach, who became chief risk officer in 2008 and later promoted to head of franchise risk and strategy, is credited with helping steer the bank through some of its most tumultuous history.

In a memo to employees on Thursday, Michael Corbat, Citigroup’s chief executive, said that after the financial crisis Mr. Leach “acted quickly to help stabilize the company and create a risk organization that would build a reputation for ensuring the firm’s safety and soundness in an evolving regulatory landscape.”

Citigroup, which nearly collapsed from losses, continued to run afoul of regulators and investors as it tried to restructure its balance sheet and impose stricter controls. But some of Citigroup’s problems lingered longer than they did at the nation’s other largest banks.

Last year, Citigroup failed the Federal Reserve’s stress test after regulators cited the bank’s failure to properly project potential losses in times of extreme stress. It was the only one of the nation’s five largest banks to fail the test, setting off a scramble inside Citigroup to pass this year’s test — which it did.

In a note to his staff on Thursday, Mr. Leach said that when he became chief risk officer there were “many questions about the future of our franchise.” But he said the bank’s success in passing this year’s stress test showed how much the bank had improved.

“The bookends of these events show, as well as any, how far we have come,” Mr. Leach wrote. “You have all been a part of that journey and our company is stronger for it.”

Mr. Leach said in his note that he has not decided what he plans to do next.