Jane Fraser, CEO of Citigroup Inc., expressed confidence in the US banks after a series of closures rattled investors and caused turmoil in global financial markets.
Fraser told the Economic Club of Washington D.C. on Wednesday that the banking system is pretty sound, and large and regional banks are well-capitalized.
She said that it's important to make sure that we nip that in the bud because of the situation where there are a few banks that have some problems.
Two US banks collapsed in the past two weeks, and Credit Suisse Group AG was taken over by Swiss rival UBS Group AG, and America's biggest banks agreed to deposit $30 billion in another ailing firm, First Republic Bank.
Citi, the fourth largest US lender, was one of 11 major banks that threw a lifeline to First Republic last week in an effort to help it get time for its restructuring.
Fraser said Citi is not interested in buying First Republic and expects to get back the $5 billion of uninsured deposits her company contributed to the lender, which was intended as a mark of confidence.
She said that the unprecedented action unified banking behemoths that are normally fierce competitors.
Fraser said that we usually try and kill each other in different ways that we're trying to do. This is a case where we want to stop what could have been a problem.