Citigroup Inc is reorganizing its Asia-Pacific operations into four geographic areas as regional chief Ajay Banga refocuses a business that has the fastest revenue growth in the company.
The bank, the biggest in the US by assets, is making the changes after Citigroup chief executive officer Vikram Pandit called for more local executives to make decisions without waiting for approval from the headquarters in New York. The geographic areas will be supported by seven product groups.
The Asia-Pacific region last year contributed 13.8 percent of Citigroup’s revenue, one-third higher than in 2006, as the US operations suffered from the worst housing crisis since the Great Depression. The bank has posted US$55.1 billion in losses and writedowns tied to US subprime mortgages, and cut more than 14,000 jobs worldwide since the beginning of this year, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
The reporting structure has been simplified and “there will also be identification of senior talent within the different regions,” Emmanuel Daniel, president of the Asian Banker, a Singapore-based research company and publisher, said by phone yesterday.
It will also reduce some responsibilities that focused on control instead of boosting income.
Under the reorganization, the Asia-Pacific region will be divided into four clusters, each led by a chief executive officer and reporting to Banga. Under the previous structure, there were three product groups — global wealth, global consumer and institutional clients — each with a separate CEO reporting to global business heads in New York.
Shares in Citigroup are down 37 percent this year to US$18.55.
The changes in the Asia-Pacific market “will leverage local expertise and thinking, eliminate management layers and provide growth opportunities,” Banga said in a statement e-mailed yesterday, which didn’t mention any job losses.
Banga replaced Robert Morse as chief executive officer of the institutional clients group for the region on Aug. 1, in addition to his responsibilities as CEO of Citigroup’s Asia operations. Morse spent 23 years with the bank, watching over a doubling in revenue at his unit to US$6.5 billion last year and acquisitions in China, including control of Guangdong Development Bank (廣東發展銀行) in 2006.
Doug Peterson will continue to lead Japan, Stephen Bird will be responsible for North Asia comprising China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan, while Sanjay Nayar remains as chief of South Asia, including Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, the e-mail said.
The remaining cluster, Southeast Asia-Pacific, will be led by Piyush Gupta. This region comprises Australia, New Zealand, Guam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Thailand and Vietnam.
Zhang Shengman (章晟曼), currently president of the Asia-Pacific region and country officer for Hong Kong, will manage the region’s network of country officers.
Mark Renton and Dan McNamara will keep their roles as heads of the investment banking business, the statement said. Fixed income, currencies, commodities and equities will be grouped under the markets division, co-headed by Rodrigo Zorrilla and David Ratliff, the statement said. Aamir Rahim will head the region’s global wealth management group, from his previous post as co-head of fixed income, currencies and commodities.
Banga will lead alternative investments, which was split from the institutional clients group. Consumer banking and global cards will continue to be led by Bird, while Farhan Faruqui will remain as head of corporate and commercial banking. Anthony Nappi will continue to head transaction services.
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