What does it take to impress the markets these days? Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is injecting $7.5bn into a bank battered by expected subprime losses, with no permanent chief executive and dogged by investors’ worries that there are more balance sheet challenges ahead. Oh, and the deal was done in a matter of days.

Citigroup stock hardly roared ahead on the news, in spite of the vote of confidence and the extra relief that Citi’s more than generous dividend looks safe, for now. The deal will roughly restore Citi to its targeted capital ratio without forcing the bank to sell assets that an incoming chief executive would rather hang on to.