Citi

Court documents in the recent Terra Firma case against Citi have revealed that the relationship between the two parties was hardly harmonious long before the disputed telephone calls between David Wormsley and Guy Hands involving Cerberus Capital Management’s appetite or lack thereof for a bid for EMI.

Funding costs are rising and the markets periodically shut down. But regulators want you to raise more and to hold more short-term liquidity that you can’t reinvest at a profit. You don’t know how regulators will classify your risk assets or how much capital they will require you to hold. But it will be more than you have. Raising it will cost more than you can earn as a return on it. Fancy a challenge? Become a CFO. Peter Lee reports.

Citigroup has appointed Patrick Perret-Green as head of FX and local markets strategy for Asia ex-Japan.

Old Lane is, to many outsiders, the biggest blot on Pandit’s career at Citi. After being forced out of Morgan Stanley in 2005 by its then chief executive, Philip Purcell, Pandit and a group of close colleagues, who included now-Citi senior executives such as John Havens and Brian Leach, joined the legion of former bankers who set up hedge funds. Old Lane began operations in March 2006.

Pandit knocks Citi into shape

Vikram Pandit has taken Citi from a place where the institution was written off as a basket case to being a share beloved by star hedge fund managers and widely seen as a buy for widows’ and orphans’ pension pots.

Much out-of-hours competition between investment banks in Hong Kong comes in the drinking dens of Lan Kwai Fung and Wanchai.

Strong first-quarter results; Government ownership being sold down

Strong first-quarter results show the turnaround is working; Trading revenues stand comparison with the best firms

William Weaver to head Citi’s DCM team; Ulrik Ross gets bigger role at HSBC

Talk to investors in financial stocks for background on profiles of Citi and Goldman Sachs and they assume Euromoney is working up a simple comparison between the biggest loser and the biggest winner in investment banking from the near collapse of the financial system.

A year ago Citi was nowhere in rates, but a quick build-out under new management has helped it ride one of the most profitable waves of 2009.

John Havens now leads a corporate and investment bank that has defeated the efforts of nine eminent bankers to forge its promising but disparate businesses into a true global industry leader. Senior management turnover has been a constant over the past decade, as has disappointment.

A sweeping management reorganization, and a focus on improving its electronic trading capabilities, has made Citi a force to be reckoned with in cash equities and derivatives.

From the ruins of a failed, large investment bank, Vikram Pandit and John Havens are trying to build the foundations of a much better, smaller one. It’s still global in ambition but designed to deal with fewer clients, commit its capital much more thoughtfully and this time in the right businesses. Sceptics either say they’ve heard it all before or question why it took the bank’s leaders so long to reach the obvious conclusion. But the early signs are that it’s working rather well. Peter Lee reports.

Citi’s leadership of Euromoney’s 2009 international cash management poll results was far from a given this year.

Tough medicine has been doled out at Citi since the arrival of Derek Bandeen as head of global equities trading last summer. After a blunt diagnosis of the problem – too many people doing the wrong things – the global equities division went through a dramatic shake-up in which it shed just over a quarter of its staff.

Citi has hired Rodney Tsang, previously Merrill Lynch’s head of China private-sector coverage, as co-head of China investment banking. Tsang will report to Farhan Faruqui, head of Asia Pacific global banking, who says of the hire: "The non-SOE [state-owned enterprise] sector in China has been growing for the past few years, and it’s an area we’re continuing to invest resources in. Rodney’s hire is an important incremental step in that direction, not only because he has good relationships and a lot of credibility with clients but because his track record in sectors including general industry, consumer and real estate complements the expertise of our existing team very well."

US bank gets secondary market nod; Still lacks crucial underwriting licence

CITI: Citi’s consistency in the debt capital markets of all developing regions makes the bank stand out

Ajay Banga has left Citi to become president and COO of MasterCard after less than a year at the helm of the US bank’s Asia-Pacific business. The news is a blow to Citi, which was in the process of reorganizing its Asian businesses under Banga as detailed in a May story in Euromoney, ‘Banga demolishes Citi’s Asia-Pac silos’. Although Citi declined to comment officially on the move beyond a statement saying that a successor would be appointed soon, sources within the firm and outside it are already speculating on who that might be. The frontrunners are believed to be Shengman Zhang, the firm’s regional president, and Stephen Bird, head of the firm’s Asia consumer business and of the key north Asia region. Another candidate mentioned is Farhan Faruqui, a rapidly rising star within the firm who now heads the global banking business for Asia, although a source within the firm speculated that it might be "a little too soon for Farhan [to reach that level]".

Even before the global financial crisis fully hit home, Citi had recognized that its successful Asia-Pacific division could perform even better with a more centralized structure. Ajay Banga has put that in place, but the full impact of the changes might not be apparent for a while. Elliot Wilson reports.

Agustin Carstens, the Mexican finance minister, has confirmed that Citi does not have to sell its Mexican unit, Banamex, following the US government’s investment in the US bank.

Poor Citi. Not even sport can provide the beleaguered bank with an escape route from its woes. Just as RBS is coming under attack in the UK for spending £200 million on sponsorship contracts with top sportsmen such as Sachin Tendulkar, Jack Nicklaus and Sir Jackie Stewart weeks before it got a government bailout, Citi is facing flak for a deal with the New York Mets after receiving $45 billion of taxpayers’ money. US lawmakers have criticized Citi for continuing with a $400 million sponsorship deal for the Mets’ baseball stadium even as the bank’s future continues to be in doubt. Citi and the Mets deny that Citi Field stadium will be funded by government money, although some wags reckon the stadium should be called Fed Field.

The Private Banking and Wealth Management Survey 2009 received 1643 valid votes (1244 'part B' votes, 399 'part A' votes), representing $11.8 trillion of Assets under Management.

Robert Rubin has announced his decision to leave Citigroup. A year ago Euromoney was the first publication to question his role and worth at the bank. Our views are equally valid today.

Vikram Pandit needs a good deal, and fast, to save not just his tenure but possibly his bank.

When a bank is huge in a particular market, the cost can sometimes be a lack of agility. Success can breed complacency, and a market-leading position might lead to a certain absence of ingenuity and a danger of getting set in one’s ways. Citi, this year’s – and last year’s – overall Euromoney Cash management poll winner, runs no risk of hubris despite its vast scale and huge commercial success.

The chief executives of 11 of the world's biggest banks discuss the lessons they have learnt from the global financial crisis, their concerns over a regulatory backlash, and how they plan to rebuild profitability in the toughest markets in history.