Algo trading head departs Citi as Brexit looms

The head of data analytics and algorithmic trading within Citi’s global credit markets team has left the bank. London-based managing director Robert Smith departed in December after spending more than 20 years with Citi.

Smith joined the bank after earning his PhD in engineering science from the University of Oxford, according to LinkedIn. He didn’t respond to a request for comment on the reason for his departure. Citi declined comment. 

While it's unclear if the move is Brexit-related, the U.S. bank has appeared to be more proactive than some other firms when it comes to planning, warning its U.K. staff two years ago about the ramifications and real potential of a hard Brexit. Late last year, Citi sent an internal memo proposing to move roughly four dozen people outside of the U.K., including 45 employees from its trading unit. Citi is expanding its operations in Dublin, Paris and other EU cities in which it already has a presence.

Smith isn’t the only algo trading head to make a recent move. In October, Deutsche Bank poached James Rubenstein, UBS’s head of algorithmic trading and analytics in the Americas.

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