Richard Parsons, speaking two days after ending his 16-yeartenure on the board of Citigroup Inc. and a predecessor, said thefinancial crisis was partly caused by a regulatory change thatpermitted the company's creation.

The 1999 repeal of the Glass-Steagall law that separated banksfrom investment banks and insurers made the business morecomplicated, Parsons said yesterday at a Rockefeller Foundationevent in Washington. He served as chairman of Citigroup, thethird-biggest U.S. bank by assets, from 2009 until handing off therole to Michael O'Neill at the April 17 annual meeting.

“To some extent what we saw in the 2007, 2008 crash was theresult of the throwing off of Glass-Steagall,” Parsons, 64, saidduring a question-and-answer session. “Have we gotten our armsaround it yet? I don't think so because the financial-servicessector moves so fast.”