Asia's where it's at for Citi's DR business

In a move that reflects Asia's growing importance to the depositary receipt business, Citigroup is relocating its global head of the DR business from New York to Hong Kong.

Sanjeev Nanavati, a managing director, is to return to Asia where he will run the global DR business, including American Depositary Receipts (ADR) product, from Hong Kong. He is the only global business head to be located in Asia.

Says Nanavati: "The DR market in Asia is driven by capital raising and changing market conditions and my presence in the Asian time zone allows us to be exceptionally responsive to client needs."

Adds Shayne Elliot, head of Citigroup's transaction services group in Asia: "The relocation of Sanjeev Nanavati as head of our global DR business to Hong Kong puts our senior management in close proximity to where a majority of our growth is located."

Nanvati joined Citigroup's DR business in 2001 and has 20 years of banking experience, including 11 in Asia. Key Citi DR programmes in Asia include those for Samsung Electronics and TSMC.