Citi creates new group focused on serving fund clients

[NEW YORK] Senior investment bankers Zubaid Ahmad and Brad Coleman will be leading a new group at Citigroup Inc focused on better serving clients that are private equity firms, hedge funds and sovereign wealth funds, according to a memo seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

The new Global Asset Management Group will help boost the investment banking coverage of these alternative asset managers, which will also include pension funds and some family offices.

A Citi spokesman confirmed the contents of the memo.

Mr Ahmad, vice chairman of Citi's institutional clients group, and Mr Coleman, global head of Citi's alternative assets group, will co-head this new group while maintaining their previous responsibilities.

Mr Ahmad and Mr Coleman will also review "client prioritization" and make sure the corporate and investment banking teams have the right structure, resources and capital to serve these asset managers, according to the memo.

This increased coverage should help the bank execute more deals for these asset managers, who have previously been served by teams of bankers spread out across the bank.

The newly formed group will work closely with the Financial Institutions Group to bank these clients, and also the markets business, the memo said.

REUTERS