(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-11-03 14:34

Citigroup Chairman and Chief Executive Charles Prince speaks during an unveiling ceremony for the group's new logo at Citibank Korea head office in Seoul in this March 30, 2007, file photo. [Agencies]

New York - Citigroup Inc.'s board plans an emergency meeting on Sunday, and Chief Executive Charles Prince is expected to offer to resign, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The Journal cited people familiar with the situation.

Citigroup spokesmen declined to comment on the report.

Citigroup posted a 57 percent profit drop in the third quarter after taking billions of dollars in writedowns of debt tied up in the tight credit markets and defaulting mortgages. Speculation about whether Prince would leave has been swirling in the market since then.

Many investors expect Citigroup to take similar, or perhaps even larger, write-offs in coming quarters.

Analysts have downgraded Citigroup and other major financial institutions in recent days because of concerns about their debt holdings and potential write-offs.

Deutsche Bank analyst Mike Mayo estimated in a note late Thursday that the investment banks will need to take an additional US$10 billion in writedowns in the fourth quarter, and that Citigroup's share would amount to US$4 billion.

Citigroup's stock has lagged its peers in the four years Prince has headed the bank. Citigroup closed down 78 cents, or 2 percent, at US$37.73, but pared even steeper losses on the report that a meeting might be held.

After Citigroup warned in early October that the credit squeeze would hurt its bottom line, the bank combined its investment banking and alternative investments businesses into one unit led by Vikram Pandit, who had led Citigroup's alternative investments unit. Tom Maheras, co-CEO of the investment banking unit, left.

But at the time, Citigroup executive committee chairman Robert Rubin and Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal -- Citigroup's biggest individual shareholder and once a critic of Prince -- expressed their support for the bank's embattled CEO.