Raghavan will also join the firm’s executive management team and report directly to CEO Fraser. — Bloomberg
New York: Citigroup Inc has hired JPMorgan Chase & Co’s Viswas Raghavan as head of banking and executive vice- chairman, poaching a key rival as chief executive officer Jane Fraser presses ahead with the bank’s biggest restructuring in decades.
Raghavan, who is expected to start at the bank in the summer, will also join the firm’s executive management team and report directly to Fraser, Citigroup said in an internal memo Monday.
In his new role, Raghavan will run one of the bank’s five core businesses, responsible for investment, corporate and commercial banking. Citigroup has been looking for a banking head since Fraser reorganised the firm in September in a move designed to propel the company from a banking underdog to one competitive with its more profitable peers.
“Vis is a proven leader and his appointment is another example of our ability to attract the best talent to our firm,” Fraser said in the memo. “Vis is the right person to take over at this pivotal moment for our banking franchise.”
As Citi announced Raghavan’s appointment, JPMorgan elevated Doug Petno and Filippo Gori to lead global banking, the first management shuffle under new commercial and investment banking co-heads Jenn Piepszak and Troy Rohrbaugh.
The firm combined its commercial, corporate and investment banking businesses under Petno and Gori, “better aligning our coverage of clients as they grow in size and complexity”, JPMorgan said in an internal memo Monday.
Raghavan is taking over a business at Citigroup that has long lagged behind its biggest rivals, despite years of effort by leaders to add talent and expand in key areas of investment banking. The unit posted a net loss of US$322mil in the fourth quarter as expenses soared. — Bloomberg
