Ex-Citigroup execs offer mea culpa on Capitol Hill

WASHINGTON - Charles Prince and Robert Rubin, who led Citigroup in the run-up to the 2008 banking crisis, voiced regrets Thursday but accepted no responsibility for the mega-bank's massive losses.

The two came under heavy fire in a congressional panel hearing for being blind to Citi taking on huge financial risks under their watch, leading ultimately to the bank's near collapse, prevented only by a $45-billion taxpayer bailout.

His hands visibly shaking as he answered questions, Rubin, formerly U.S. Treasury secretary during the Clinton administration, told panel members that he was not a key decision-maker at Citi during the worst of its troubles.

Prince, the bank's former chief executive, came to the defense of Rubin, saying that as an adviser he was not responsible for Citi's losses. Prince offered up multiple apologies for his own ignorance.

"I can only say that I am deeply sorry that our management - starting with me - was not more prescient and that we did not foresee what lay before us," Prince said.

Some members of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission did not buy the two executives' statements of regret.

"You either were pulling the levers or asleep at the switch," commission Chairman Phil Angelides (D-Calif.) said to Rubin.- Reuters