All change at Citi as Murray Roos leaves

Citi is parting company with Murray Roos, the co-head of its equities business. 

Bloomberg reported Roos's exit earlier this afternoon. Citi confirmed Roos's departure.

Roos joined Citi's London office from Deutsche Bank in 2015, and together with New York-based Dan Keegan was promoted to co-head of equities in 2016, replacing the incumbent, Derek Bandeen. However, despite some bullish statements from Roos about the potential for Citi's equities business and some initial hiring, particularly from Deutsche Bank, Citi has failed to make much headway in the cash equities business. In 2019, its market share was around 7% - barely higher than the 6% it achieved two years earlier. 

Roos's exit comes before Citi pays bonuses for 2019 and after the U.S. investment bank announced cuts to its equities business in May 2019 and further cuts in July. In late July, Citi merged its equities, prime brokerage and securities services businesses into one combined 'equities and securities services (ESS)' division with Roos and Keegan co-heading equities and Okan Pekin as global head of prime, futures and securities services. With Roos gone, the unit is now co-headed by Pekin and Keegan.

Many of those Roos hired - especially from Deutsche Bank in London, will now be feeling vulnerable. Some of those leaving the bank have questioned Citi's commitment to the equities business, particularly after rivals like Deutsche Bank have pulled out.   

Daniel Pinto, head of the corporate and investment bank at JPMorgan, said yesterday that only the largest players will survive in a market that's, "become about doing humongous amounts of trades at a very tiny margin."

Before working in equities trading, Roos was a chemical engineer. During his previous career he was known for falling into a vat of anti-foaming agent and having to be pulled out.