Citigroup accelerates the expansion of its investment banking with a targeted poaching wave of top bankers – primarily from rival JPMorgan. The background is the ambitious transformation by the new investment banking chief Viswas Raghavan, who himself moved from JPMorgan to Citi in February 2024. After the expiration of his contractual restrictions on recruiting, he is now systematically expanding his team.
Raghavan recently recruited at least five senior investment bankers from his former employer, including Achintya Mangla, who will lead the Financing sector for global investment banking. Additionally, Citi gains two experienced executives from JPMorgan's international Equity Capital Markets business with Aloke Gupte and Alex Watkins. Gupte will be the global Co-Head for Equity Capital Markets based in London, Watkins will take responsibility for technology financing in San Francisco.
Citi is also specifically strengthening in takeover consulting: Drago Rajkovic, also from JPMorgan, was appointed Co-Head of Mergers & Acquisitions in June. Sidharth Punshi has recently been leading the financial investors and alternative assets business in the EMEA region. Additional additions came from competitors such as Morgan Stanley and HSBC – with James Manson-Bahr and Ed Sankey moving into senior positions within the Equity Capital Markets team in London.
The offensive comes at a time when Citi is forced to make its investment banking more profitable. In particular, the institution is focusing on growth in leveraged finance. In the second quarter, investment banking revenues rose by 13% compared to the previous year. High-profile mandate: Citi advised Nippon Steel on the $15 billion purchase of US Steel.
The personnel reshuffles highlight the intensified battle for talent among the major US banks. JPMorgan, in turn, recently poached Citi managers Anthony Diamandakis and Theodoros Giatrakos for its private equity business.
The gap to JPMorgan remains large for Citi. While JPMorgan recorded $2.5 billion in investment banking fees in the second quarter, Citi managed only slightly more than half.
