Citigroup Hires Ex-Deutsche Bank Prime Services Duo in London
Citigroup Inc.C -1.91% has hired two former London-based Deutsche Bank AGDBK.XE -1.53% managers for its European client-services businesses, as the U.S. bank aims to attract more hedge funds as clients in stock-trading and other areas, according to an internal memo sent to employees on Tuesday.
Citigroup named Simon Kempton and Daniel Caplan to senior roles overseeing so-called prime services and sales for Europe, where they will arrange loans, handle collateral and manage stock-trading and custody services for hedge funds and other investment firms, according to the memo reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
A Citigroup spokeswoman confirmed the contents of the memo.
Messrs. Caplan and Kempton last week left Deutsche Bank, where Mr. Kempton was head of the prime brokerage business internationally–within the broader prime-finance unit–and Mr. Caplan was head of European prime finance. Messrs. Caplan and Kempton couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Deutsche Bank has told clients and investors it remains committed to prime finance and continues to invest in the business, a spokesman said.
Prime finance units of global banks primarily serve asset managers such as hedge funds, loaning them money and securities and helping them with custody, technology, marketing and administrative tasks. Such clients can generate lucrative fees for banks, but they also typically require large allocations of capital. Stricter regulatory capital controls have squeezed profits, according to market participants.
Citigroup in recent years has trailed other big banks, including Deutsche Bank, in the prime-finance business but has been hiring in equities and other areas as it seeks to gain market share. Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank has had turnover in senior prime-finance roles including its global, North American and European heads of the business, which the bank has announced in a series of changes in recent months.
Deutsche Bank last week replaced Mr. Caplan with another London-based equities-division manager, Ashley Wilson, as head of European prime finance. Earlier this year, Deutsche Bank named an Asia-based equities executive, Dixit Joshi, as global head of the prime-finance business, replacing longtime global head Barry Bausano, who took on a senior client-advisory role in the business under the title of chairman, Deutsche Bank said.
Source: MoneyBeat/WSJ – Citigroup Hires Ex-Deutsche Bank Prime Services Duo in London
