People and markets: Citi fleshes out FICC decision

Citi finally unveiled the real major reorganization of its fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) business in February. The shake-up puts meat on the bones of the October 2006 decision of then head of capital markets Tom Maheras to formally incorporate Citi’s extensive local markets/emerging markets business into its traditional fixed-income offering.

The first steps in truly integrating the emerging markets business, which had operated as a stand-alone silo since 1998, started in July 2005 with the formation of global credit markets run by Chad Leat. Leat now has a co-head in Mark Watson, who was previously European head of fixed income.

"We are different than pretty much every other bank/financial institution in that we have these emerging markets businesses in 100-odd countries that often resemble full-fledged fixed-income businesses," says Watson. "Most institutions don’t have those historic businesses. They were run somewhat separately but Tom Maheras felt...