Senior departures at Citi ahead of European recruitment push

Citigroup is one of a handful of large investment banks supposedly ready to rebuild its European investment banking business, but it’s also lost some senior staff in recent weeks.

Following on from the departure of Rachel Lord, Citigroup’s global head of corporate equity derivatives, for Blackrock’s iShares business, a number of managing directors have also moved on.

Murat Demirel, who moved to London from Turkey last July to take the role of managing director within its Central Eastern Europe Middle East & Africa corporate finance division, has now left the bank and is currently on gardening leave, according to sources close to the situation.

Meanwhile, Sue Wallace, managing director of European credit trading, has retired after nearly 20 years at Citigroup, having joined from SG Warburg in 1994. Paul Booth, director of operations for Citi Research, has also left the bank, according to the Financial Conduct Authority register.

Citigroup declined to comment on the moves.

Nonetheless, it comes at a time when Citigroup is again looking to expand. It’s on the hunt for senior bankers across its investment banking business, commodities division, structured products and derivatives unit, according to the FT.

Within the past three months, it’s hired four people into its London power and gas sales team: Branko Pribicevic from Vitol, and Diana Beverly, Benjamin Davis and Colin March from Goldman Sachs, Macquarie and Morgan Stanley respectively.

Birgit Schweigert, a director in fixed income sales at UBS, joined Citigroup last month, as did Vincenzo Botta, an associate director within UBS’s structured notes division as an MTN trader.