Sallie L. Krawcheck appears to be making good at Citigroup. The former equity analyst from Sanford Bernstein joined Citi to head its Smith Barney division after the financial conglomerate got caught in the conflicted research scandals uncovered by NYAG Eliot Spitzer. Now she is taking a promotion.

Krawcheck was named as the bank's chief financial officer on Monday. As part of the move she will relocate to the firm's midtown headquarters from Smith Barney's offices downtown in TriBeCa. That will put her closer to CEO Charles O. Prince.

Meanwhile, Todd S. Thomson, 43, will take Krawckeck's old duties at Smith Barney. The paper quotes analysts who say that Thomson wanted to run an operating division at the bank and precipitated the shuffle.

Prince said that both Thomson and Krawckeck are "legitimate contenders for chief executive and chief operating officer."

While Krawcheck has limited operational experience -- especially in consumer banking and insurance -- she is an expert at smoothing the feathers of institutional investors. Speculation is that Citi's top brass (including Sandy Weill) are concerned with the bank's lagging stock price and are hoping Krawcheck will be able to better communicate the bank's vision to investors.  

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