HONG KONG : Citigroup Inc plans to hire around 3,000 new staff for its institutional business in Asia in the next couple of years, sharpening its focus in a fast-growing region where it has exited consumer banking, its Asia Pacific chief executive said.
"We're talking about real meat on the bones on growing our business across Asia," Asia-Pacific CEO Peter Babej told Reuters in an interview. Babej took on the role in 2019 and previously worked as global head of the bank's financial institutions group. Citi said last year that $7 billion in capital released from divestment of consumer banking businesses in 13 markets, 10 of which were in Asia, would be either returned to shareholders or invested in lucrative institutional banking and wealth management units.
Last year, Citi created a single wealth management business, to deliver services to clients from the affluent segment as well as ultra-high net worth individuals. The Asia wealth business is also centered around hubs in Singapore and Hong Kong.Wealth managers at the big global banks are tempering their expectations for Asia, after China's regulatory crackdown and COVID-driven slowdown helped to push clients to the sidelines, bankers and analysts told Reuters last month.
Babej believes the wealth that's been accumulated, and continues to grow, in China is"very significant", despite macroeconomic headwinds, uncertainties around Beijing's so-called 'common prosperity' drive, and challenges from COVID control measures.