Citigroup Inc is rolling up its sleeves as it prepares to battle prime brokerage heavyweights like Goldmans, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank by increasing headcount in it
Citigroup Inc is rolling up its sleeves as it prepares to battle prime brokerage heavyweights like Goldmans, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank by increasing headcount in its Asian prime finance unit by 20 per cent to 80 staff this year, reported Reuters this week. It comes as Citigroup reports growing interest, not only from existing hedge fund clients but new ones as fund launches – albeit down in number on 2010 – continue to be strong. Citigroup’s head of prime finance Asia Pacific, Hannah Goodwin (pictured), said the firm was strengthening its cap intro, OTC, client service and futures teams in response to getting a number of “new sole mandates” and second and third mandates from existing Asia managers. “That has been a growth story for us and I think that’s going to continue,” Goodwin was quoted as saying.
New hires Rob Baigre and Carol Teng have joined Citigroup’s cap intro team; Chris Day has joined the exchange-traded derivatives team, whilst former J.P. Morgan executive Ian Nissen has joined as head of futures and prime finance sales in Australia. Now is a good opportunity for Citigroup to wrestle market share from its competitors as the multi-prime model becomes de rigueur for fund managers with counterparty risk a key issue in the market. Goodwin points out that Citigroup’s ability to service clients across custody and administration in addition to trade execution and financing was a strength: “Citi has pretty much everything and it’s a matter of working out what works best for the client,” added Goodwin.
