Amid estimates that they will report billions of dollars in additional write-downs for the first quarter, the two largest U.S. banks by deposits are preparing for their post-subprime futures.

Citigroup has a new chief for its U.S. consumer business, David Enrich of the Wall Street Journal reports, while Bank of America has agreed to pay $28 million to David Sambol, the chief operating officer of Countrywide Financial, to stay on when the two companies merge.

Terri Dial, who runs the retail banking business of Lloyds TSB of Britain, will be Citi's new chief of U.S. consumer operations, succeeding Steven Freiberg, the Journal says. Freiberg will now run the bank's global credit-card business.

Dial, 58, was a highly regarded Wells Fargo executive when she joined Lloyds in 2005.

The Financial Times' Alphaville blog notes that the situation at Citi's consumer unit, a sluggish business plagued by rising defaults, is similar to what she stepped into at Lloyds.

Citi is also ousting the chiefs of its global finance and prime brokerage business. Nick Roe will replace Ali Hackett and Tom Tesauro, according to an internal memo, Reuters and Bloomberg News report.

The shakeup is part of Vikram Pandit's effort to overhaul troubled bank giant since he took over from Charles Prince as C.E.O. in December.

"For Pandit it's the case of a new broom sweeps clean," Rupert Della-Porta, the chief operating officer at Atlantic Equities in London, told Bloomberg News. "You should expect a rotation of people, and prime brokerage is an area that people are focusing on, including Citigroup."

Bank of America, meanwhile, is facing a number of doubters about its planned $4 billion acquisition of Countrywide Financial, the largest mortgage lender in the country. Countrywide continues to suffer from mounting foreclosures and it faces criminal and regulatory investigations.

But Bank of America is going full-steam ahead. It has already announced that Sambol would be the chief of the combined mortgage businesses of the two companies, a move that Senator Charles Schumer, Democrat of New York, asked that Bank of America reconsider. Now, the bank has disclosed its incentive to keep Sambol.

According to a filing on Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Sambol will be due a $20 million bonus to be paid in two parts, on the first and second anniversaries of the merger.

He also gets $8 million in restricted stock in three installments. In addition, Sambol gets to keep his Countrywide fringe benefits until the end of next year, which include use of a jet, car, and financial-consulting services, as well a country-club dues.

All in all, Sambol gets a much richer deal than Bank of America's chief executive, Ken Lewis, who received $20.4 million in compensation.

But did he have a better year?