Citi has appointed Rodney Tsang and Roger Zhu, two veteran bankers, as co-heads of global banking for Greater China in a bid to “better focus on talent, resources and balance sheet”, the bank said.
Tsang and Zhu will both be based in Hong Kong and report to Farhan Faruqui, head of global banking for Asia-Pacific. Tsang will lead China investment banking in partnership with Zhu and also oversee the Hong Kong banking business as the two markets become increasingly integrated, Citi said.
“We look forward to Rodney continuing to build on the success of our China investment banking business over the past 18 months, and ensuring the team is optimally resourced to meet the growing demands of both China and Hong Kong,” said Faruqui.
Tsang joined Citi in 2009 and has strong experience in Asia’s capital markets, particularly China, as well as a record of attracting top talent and a history of working in partnership with his local and global colleagues.
Zhu joined Citi in October last year after nearly a decade at CICC, where he was responsible for business development and client coverage within the investment banking division.
During his time at CICC, Zhu was involved in the IPOs for ICBC, China Construction Bank, Shanghai Auto, China XD Group and Minmetals, among many others. Zhu brings to the role a wealth of long-standing relationships, particularly with the Chinese government, Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and financial institutions.
Citi said that it intends to leverage these relationships to significantly strengthen the bank’s SOE market share and further build senior client relationships across China.
Moreover, Zhu’s experience in building out CICC’s leading investment banking and asset management businesses may prove valuable to Citi, not only for the prospects of its global banking franchise in China, but also for Citi-Orient Securities, a joint-venture firm established with Orient Securities, its Shanghai-based partner.
Although Tsang and Zhu are heads of “Greater China”, they are not responsible for Taiwan. Christie Chang, head of Taiwan institutional clients and global banking, will continue to report to the head of Asia-Pacific global banking.
