The most senior banker at Citi Asia Pacific, Stephen Bird, is to leave the region to take up a position in New York as CEO of the firm’s global consumer bank.
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I firmly believe we are just starting out on what will be Asia’s century Stephen Bird, |
Seventeen-year Citi veteran Bird will take up his new position on June 1, replacing the retiring Manuel Medina-Mora. Current Latin America CEO, Francisco Aristeguieta is replacing Bird.
Bird’s move is widely viewed as recognition among Citi top brass of Asia’s growing importance and the need to have people with a strong understanding of the region at the highest levels of the bank.
“When I first came to the region in 1998, Asia was just recovering from the financial crisis,” Bird tells Euromoney. “The progress since then has been remarkable. I firmly believe we are just starting out on what will be Asia’s century.”
Citi Asia grew into the highest-earning division of the bank after north America under Bird’s leadership. In recent years several people from his team have moved into senior leadership roles for Citi, including global head of risk Brad Hu, global consumer CFO Nick Lyall, global retail bank head Jonathan Larsen and global head of FX Nadir Mahmud.