Aug. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc. said former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin will give up the title of chairman of the board's executive committee, while keeping his role as senior counselor at the biggest U.S. bank by assets.

Rubin, who turns 70 this week, will remain a director, Citigroup said today in a statement on its Web site. The New York-based company eliminated the executive committee and shifted its responsibilities to the nominating and governance committee led by Richard Parsons, chairman of Time Warner Inc.

Former Citigroup Chief Executive Officer Sanford ``Sandy'' Weill hired Rubin as chairman of the executive committee in October 1999, three months after he left U.S. President Bill Clinton's administration. The seven-member committee acted on the board's behalf between meetings, and Rubin served as interim chairman for a month last year after former CEO Charles O. ``Chuck'' Prince resigned.

Rubin has been criticized by investors including Smith Asset Management's William Smith for collecting more than $150 million in pay in a decade while failing to steer Prince away from subprime mortgage securities that led to $17.4 billion of net losses in the past three quarters.

Citigroup's board acted to ``simplify its committee structure,'' according to the statement. ``By transferring this authority, a separate executive committee whose only function was to convene these meetings is no longer needed.''

Administrative

In an interview today, Rubin said the decision to eliminate the executive committee evolved from a conversation with Parsons about two months ago. Rubin's role running the interim meetings was ``administrative'' and can easily be handled by Parsons's nominating committee, he said.

``There's no change either to my roles or functions at Citigroup, other than this, which is a solely administrative change,'' Rubin said in the interview. ``Everything I've done I'll do.''

Such responsibilities include advising executives and clients on a ``wide range of strategic and managerial matters,'' a role that is reflected in his new title, said Shannon Bell, a spokeswoman for the bank.

In an interview earlier this year, Rubin said he wasn't responsible for the bank's trading operations. ``You can't run a trading group where someone comes in from the outside and says, `Prices are high, go sell,''' Rubin said.

Stock Bonus

Citigroup shares have tumbled more than 60 percent in the past year, and today fell 53 cents, or 2.9 percent, to $17.61 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

Rubin in January elected to forgo a stock bonus for 2007. Citigroup didn't disclose Rubin's compensation for 2007, and Bell declined to discuss his current pay.

Rubin said he has no plans to retire.

``The only plan I have right now is to do what I'm doing,'' he said. ``If you start talking about the indefinite future, at some point everybody's life changes, and at some point my life will change.''

Rubin, who's backing Democrat Barack Obama for president after initially supporting Senator Hillary Clinton of New York, said he plans to travel this week to the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Obama economic adviser Jason Furman is a Rubin protege.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bradley Keoun in New York at bkeoun@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 25, 2008 16:51 EDT