Citi gussies up its prime broking team

Citi has announced eight new hires in its prime broking department across the region. Meanwhile, the Japan prime broking division has been integrated with the non-Japan Asia bloc, and reports into Hong Kong.

In Tokyo, Citi has hired Rosario An as director and head of securities lending. He previously worked at both Deutsche Bank and UBS and will lead the development of a synthetic equity-finance platform in Japan.

Also in Tokyo, Sakura Sugibayashi joins from Morgan Stanley as vice-president and senior synthetic equity trader.

In Sydney, Maria Hilado will handle client service in the equity finance unit. She was previously head of prime brokerage operations for UBS in Australia.

Back in Hong Kong, Nigel Quy has joined as a vice-president in funding, Charles Lam as a business development manager, Rob McVie as client service manager and Alison Saito as a product development manager. All four are internal transfers within Citi.

Down in Singapore, Danielle Vint has transferred from the fixed income desk to join the prime finance team and will handle the foreign exchange client side.

Given that hedge funds are having a torrid summer, is it a surprise that service provider growth is so robust?

"Despite the volatility, volumes, particularly in foreign exchange, remain strong and the hires will position us for when markets do eventually rebound," says Hannah Goodwin, managing director and head of prime finance Asia for Citi.