Citigroup is demonstrating the goals of its new bank Chief Viswas Raghavan following the lifting of employment restrictions from JP Morgan.
Raghavan, who joined Citi as the head of investment banking in February 2024, previously led the trading division at JP Morgan. Shortly after his appointment, he recruited at least five senior bankers from his former employer to help establish his team, including Achintya Mangla as the head of funding for Citi’s investment bank.
Citi, based in New York, announced in an internal memo that it has brought on board two senior bankers from JPMorgan to manage its international equity capital markets business.
Aloke Gupte and Alex Watkins, who recently departed from JPMorgan, will be taking on significant roles at Citi. Gupte will serve as the global co-head of equity capital markets in London, while Watkins is set to lead technology funding from the San Francisco office, as noted in the memo.
They join other recent additions like Drago Rajkovich, who took on the role of co-head of mergers and acquisitions last month, and Cedars Pansi, who directs Citi’s financial sponsorship and alternative assets groups across the EMEA region.
Not all hires came from JPMorgan; Citi also welcomed James Manson Barr from Morgan Stanley and Ed Sankey from HSBC.
The strategy focuses on enhancing leveraged finance as Citi aims to increase returns for its investment banking division. The bank saw a 13% rise in investment banking fees in the second quarter of the previous year, advising on notable transactions such as Nippon Steel’s $15 billion acquisition in the U.S.
This influx of bankers from JPMorgan is part of a broader competition for interbank talent, with rivals also actively recruiting from within Citi.
JPMorgan opted not to provide any comment on the situation. Meanwhile, Citi limited its remarks to confirming the new hires initially reported by Bloomberg.
Raghavan has a significant challenge ahead as he tries to strengthen Citi’s investment banking sector to compete with JPMorgan. During the second quarter, JPMorgan’s investment banking fees reached $2.5 billion, more than double what Citi earned.
