FX survey 2014: Citi takes back the top spot

Nadir Mahmud smiles at the irony of it. He’s been global head of Citi’s foreign exchange business for only a matter of weeks, and he’s already achieved something that has been a clear ambition of the bank for more than a decade: to reclaim its position as the leading global foreign exchange house. 

Citi beat Deutsche Bank, winner for the previous nine years, by the narrowest of margins to top the overall market share rankings in Euromoney’s 2014 FX survey. Citi had dominated the Euromoney survey since its inception in 1976, winning the overall ranking for the first 23 years. In 1999 Deutsche won the survey, with Citi regaining top spot from 2000 to 2002.

Then, from 2003, the bank started to slip behind such rivals as Deutsche, UBS and Barclays and even RBS, reaching a low point in 2009 of a fifth-place ranking and a market share of just 7.32%. Over the past five years, that volume has more than doubled to 16.04% – enough to reclaim the top spot from Deutsche, whose market share this year was 15.67%.

Mahmud has played his own role in Citi’s revival, as previously he was head of regional markets for Asia-Pacific, one of the core FX markets for the bank. But he’s quick to recognize that the real credit must go to Citi’s core group of long-serving FX bankers. Until recently the division was led by Anil Prasad, who left Citi earlier this year after seven years as global head of foreign exchange and local markets, the title Mahmud now has. 

“Anil transformed businesses with regional focuses into a true global product. This was not an easy task, and it needed someone with immense drive and determination to make it happen. A huge amount of credit for our success must go to him and his management team,” says Mahmud.

Nadir Mahmud, global head of Citi’s foreign exchange business

Prasad, alongside colleagues such as James Bindler, global head of FX options as well as the CEEMEA region, was also one of the driving forces behind Citi’s e-trading platform, Velocity. Bindler admits that the bank was late to the game in electronic platforms and the other leading FX firms had stolen a march. “When we invested heavily in the e-platform, we were able to do so with a newer generation of technology. We were also able to develop a system based around the front office that was devised by people who really understood our product and what we were trying to achieve.”

The tech platform, as well as the global rather than local focus, was key in developing an institutional business that complements Citi’s traditional strengths in corporate and retail FX.

Mahmud has no plans to take his foot off the gas now Citi has the top spot. “We have a unique platform, with trading operations in 82 countries. We can do more with that, and we’ll continue to invest heavily in technology, to ensure we maintain our ability to provide the best pricing, execution and value to our clients.”

Barclays narrowly beats UBS to take the final spot in the top three overall. Keeping at the forefront of the move to e-trading remains key to the bank’s strategy and success, says Adrian McGowan, global head of FX trading at Barclays: “We recognize that the most professional clients are increasingly taking execution into their own hands. We’ve taken the lead over the past 18 months in ensuring that they have enhanced tools through our electronic platform to provide fully transparent execution. We’re already putting a tremendous amount of volume through this.”