Citigroup Inc, an American multinational investment bank, which has served mid-sized companies in over 60 countries plans to hire 900 staff over the next three years which is one of the large parts of the U.S. bank’s Asia Pacific business. It is planning to fast-track its growth in the banking sector.
The hiring at Citigroup represents its largest investment in headcount across the bank globally. This decision is taken so that it can improve the bank’s presence in high growth and emerging markets and also it can expand its digital abilities.
The bank has also reported that it is going to hire 350 more employees as part of global headcount expansion in Asia Pacific regions. The majority of these hires will be placed in countries such as China, Hong Kong, India and Singapore to stretch its business to a larger extent. China and India will each get around 80 new hires. Hong Kong will add close to 100 people, while another over 30 will go to Singapore.
By adding all these workforces, the bank hopes to strengthen its services like treasury, trade solutions, securities, and partnership with global wealth management.
The US lender said multinational enterprises (MNEs) are key drivers of economic growth with a 2018 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report estimating MNEs account for half of the global exports, almost one-third of world GDP, and about one-fourth of employment.
“Servicing clients whose annual revenues range from $10 million to $3 billion, Citi anticipates that the financial needs of this critical client segment will evolve, requiring the sophisticated banking solutions and expertise a global bank like Citi can offer,” it said.
“In today’s interconnected world, mid-sized companies quickly outgrow the capabilities of a local or even a regional bank. They are going global faster and reaching scale sooner than ever before,” explained Tasnim Ghiawadwala, Global Head, Citi Commercial Bank.
“CCB is the ideal banking partner for our clients as they seek Citi’s global connectivity and institutional expertise across working capital management and strategic capital market offerings. We can offer our mid-sized clients the suite of capabilities used by the largest companies in the world customized to their needs and scale of operations,” she continued.
Citigroup is therefore investing heavily in this segment with the bulk of hires. So, it can be concentrated in areas to see an acceleration in business activity: US, China, Brazil, India, and countries in Western Europe to start.
In 2021, the Asia Pacific business contributed 41% to the bank’s global revenues of $2.7 billion. Citigroup has also reported 70% of its growth in the CMO (Capital Markets Origination) revenue only because of its commercial clients in Asia pacific.
