Sallie Krawcheck insists she's not responsible for the Wall Street failings that happened on her watch as one of the industry's most powerful executives.
In fact, even though she's not working on Wall Street today, Krawcheck says she's still an advocate for the investor. But don't take my word for it. Check out her Twitter feed. See @SallieKrawcheck on Twitter.
On it, the same Sallie Krawcheck who held senior-level positions at B. of A. (BAC) and Citi (C) is -- according to the pro-Sallie camp -- continuing the good fight against bank greed and for fair dealing.
She told me, "Given my experiences in the industry -- as research analyst covering the industry and manager within the industry -- I actually consider it my responsibility to be part of the very important debate on how to move the banking industry forward."
There is a more cynical explanation: she's an opportunist. Krawcheck is a born-again reformer who's trying to stay relevant with the public and the media by taking shots at the industry that made her rich and famous.
Whatever the story, Krawcheck in 140 characters or less, is breaking new ground again. She's banging on the door to another old boys' club, except this one includes such sullied figures as Henry Blodget, Richard Parsons and Eliot Spitzer.
All of them exited their Wall Street careers and then seemed to have epiphanies. Blodget, a tainted research analyst, found a new calling as a muckraking Wall Street foil. Spitzer was an evangelical who sinned and picked up a TV career and part-time banking critic as if no one had noticed or was looking.
Parsons might be the most shape-shifting of them all: He lobbied and benefited from the deregulation of Wall Street in the late 1990s. And last week, less than 48 hours after he resigned as chairman of Citigroup, Parsons lambasted that same deregulation effort.
This leads us to Krawcheck who, since her dismissal from B. of A. almost six months ago, has laid low save for an op-ed or two. Remember, Krawcheck was one of the five most powerful executives at Citi in the mid-2000s. At B. of A. she headed the former Merrill Lynch and B. of A.'s retail brokerage arm, one of the two biggest in the country.
Forget that she was the most powerful woman on Wall Street. She was, for the better part of the decade, one of the most powerful bankers in the world.
She joined Citi in 2003, rose quickly and was named chief financial officer and head of strategy in 2004. She frequently was named on up-and-coming lists of top executives. She was a front runner to succeed Charles Prince, Citi's chief executive.
Oh, and she was paid well. Her total compensation was roughly $11 million in 2005, $10.6 million in 2006, $7.1 million in 2007. And Sallie was a mover. No, literally. One year, she spent $34,300 of shareholder money on air and ground transportation.
What happened during the next three years is a matter of historical debate. Some say Krawcheck was in over her head as chief financial officer. They say she didn't recognize that leverage at the bank was getting out of hand.
Others say she tried to steer Citi away from risk but was ignored or overruled by Citi veterans.
What's not open to debate is that during her years at the top, Citi piled on more leverage than at any point in its history. The result was the biggest bailout package this side of American International Group Inc. in 2008 and 2009.
She left Citi and quickly moved to Bank of America in 2009. Again, stories differ. Krawcheck supporters claim she demanded both Citi and B. of A. compensate its customers. Critics say she wasn't aggressive enough or was more concerned with making profits in her division.
Enter Twitter
On March 10, Krawcheck got the Twitter bug. Identifying herself as the former head of Merrill Lynch and Smith Barney (leaving out Citi and B. of A.), she's been tapping her inner reformer:
On the say-on-pay "no" vote last week at Citi's annual meeting in Dallas:
"Citi investors' no on exec comp but clamoring for increased dividends; risk off, risk on?"
On too-big-to-fail banks:
"Top 5 banks' assets 56% of GDP, vs 43% 5 years ago -- 'too bigger to fail?'"
She's been philosophical -- she turns 47 this year:
"Creativity, innovation peak later in life than most think; thank goodness "
Oh, and Krawcheck is also on the social networks and getting disappointing suggestions:
"Insult 2 injury @LinkedIn 'Jobs u may b interested in' keeps suggesting I apply to be a Merrill trainee -- seriously."
Mostly, however, it's been banking and investing shop talk. On March 30, she recommended an Atlantic story about psychopaths on Wall Street. See Atlantic story on psychopath finance.
Then she did a guest spot on CNBC. As of last week, Krawcheck joined the board of a gold-trading company. Still, she's found time to tweet: "talk of big bank break-ups not going away." she wrote April 3.
Gregory Vistica, a spokesman for Krawcheck, said his client's tweets aren't out of character. Krawcheck, he said, had a long, documented career of pushing for investor rights. Many of those fights happened behind closed doors, he said.
Krawcheck herself added, "If I can use my experiences to weigh in on certain important topics that impact clients, such as the regulation of money funds, I am not going to shy away from those, particularly if my point of view is different from the consensus."
The problem, even if Krawcheck is sincere, is that too many have exited their Wall Street firms and jobs with a suitcase full of money in hand. As they stride toward the town car waiting in the street they point over their shoulder at the bank and shout, or tweet, "You wouldn't believe what's going in there!"
Few of those who saw the light ever had the power, position and influence Sallie Krawcheck had.
That doesn't necessarily make her less believable, just more of a disappointment.
