Larry Summers Suspends Citigroup Ties While Being Considered for Fed

 Lawrence Summers has suspended ties with Citigroup Inc. while the White House considers nominating him to serve as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve, Citigroup said in a statement.

“Mr. Summers has withdrawn from participation in all Citi events while he is under consideration to be chairman of the Federal Reserve,” Danielle Romero-Apsilos, a spokeswoman for the New York-based lender, said today in an e-mailed statement, reports Bloomberg.

Summers was to give the keynote address on challenges to the global economy at a Citigroup research seminar in Washington on Oct. 13, according to an invitation on the website of Citigroup.

Citigroup hired Summers, 58, “for small private-bank client and institutional client meetings,” Romero-Apsilos said in an earlier e-mailed statement. He provided “insight on a broad range of topics including the global and domestic economy.”