Citi speeds push to add 700 private bankers with Europe outposts

CITIGROUP is ramping up efforts to add 700 private bankers in coming years with the opening this week of two new private-banking offices in Paris and Frankfurt.

The New York-based bank has begun relocating staff from its Luxembourg bureau to the new locations, which will be housed at existing offices in the two cities. Citigroup will increase headcount at both offices in coming months.

“Paris and Frankfurt further solidified the globality of the private bank, which already operates in 52 cities in 20 countries,” Ida Liu, global head of Citigroup’s private bank, said in an interview. 

Citigroup is doubling the number of advisers in its private-banking workforce as it seeks to deepen its foothold in the business of catering to the ultra-wealthy. The firm last year combined its private-banking and wealth-management divisions as part of chief executive officer Jane Fraser’s plans to improve Citigroup’s returns.

The private bank, which has 10,000 clients with an average net worth of more than US$400 million, had US$4 billion in revenue in 2021, up 6 per cent from a year earlier. BLOOMBERG