The largest United States bank by assets plans to hold an emergency board meeting on Sunday, at which Mr Prince will step down, the newspaper said on Friday, citing people familiar with the situation.

Citigroup spokesman Michael Hanretta declined to comment.

Mr Prince did not immediately return a call to his office.

Speculation that Mr Prince's hold on his job was tenuous has swirled for weeks, after a US$6.5 billion (S$9.4 billion) third-quarter write-down fed fears of more losses to come, dragging Citigroup's shares to a 4-1/2-year low.

'Prince had told investors this would be the year of no excuses. It unfolded into a year of lots of excuses,' said Mr Thomas Russo, a partner at Gardner Russo & Gardner in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which invests more than US$3 billion and owns Citigroup shares.

Mr Prince's departure would be the second of a top Wall Street executive in less than a week, following Tuesday's ouster of Merrill Lynch Chief Executive Stan O'Neal, following an US$8.4 billion write-down.

A lawyer by training, Mr Prince is widely credited with having addressed Citigroup's many legal and regulatory problems after he replaced Weill in October 2003.

But he has struggled to consistently boost revenue faster than costs, raising worries about whether it has sufficient capital to grow and boost profitability.

It was not immediately clear who might replace Mr Prince at Citigroup. Analysts have said the bank has few, if any, candidates ready to step in now.

Mr Robert Rubin, the former Goldman Sachs chief and US Treasury Secretary who chairs Citigroup's executive, was being floated as an interim replacement, but is reluctant to take over, the Journal said.

'He may not want the job, but if you are a Citigroup stockholder, you would wish he would take over,' said Mr James Armstrong, president at Henry H. Armstrong Associates, which does not own the bank's shares.

Other possibilities have included Mr John Thain, another former Goldman executive who now runs NYSE Euronext. -- REUTERS