Citi has appointed Jonathan Larsen head of global retail banking. Larsen, currently head of Asia-Pacific consumer banking, will continue to be based in Asia and keeps his regional role.
The appointment marks the first time a global leader for one of Citi’s main consumer banking units will be based in Asia-Pacific — underlining the increasing importance of the region and its consumer bank to Citi globally.
To give you an idea of the significance of this franchise to Citi’s overall business, consider that in the first quarter of 2012 Asia-Pacific contributed $1.1 billion, or 37% of Citi’s global net income. The Asian consumer banking business contributed $503 million, which is close to 50% of this net income.
Citi’s retail banking network consists of more than 4,600 branches across the world. Larsen will continue to report to Asia-Pacific chief operating officer Rodrigo Zorrilla and Manuel Medina Mora, CEO of Citi’s consumer group.
In Asia, Citi has close to 700 branches, more than $110 billion in deposits, $200 billion in assets under management and 33 million retail accounts, making it one of Asia’s leading consumer banks. It is ranked the top one or two credit card issuer in eight markets in the region, according to Lafferty research.
“Asia-Pacific presents some of the biggest growth opportunities for Citi globally and as the regions’ leading consumer bank we are well positioned to support the mega trends of globalisation, digitisation and urbanisation,” said Stephen Bird, CEO for Asia-Pacific, who ran Citi’s consumer bank in Asia from 2006 to 2008 and oversaw strong growth in the consumer bank before taking on the CEO role for the bank in the region.
“The appointment underlines the rising importance of this region to Citi globally and the quality of talent we have here to run global business lines. I am delighted Jonathan is remaining in the region and am confident he will continue to deliver on the opportunities we have in our consumer business in Asia-Pacific alongside this important global role,” he added.
Larsen joined Citi in 1998 and has held several leadership roles across Asia-Pacific, including country head for Singapore, CEO of Citibank Singapore, head of consumer banking in the Asean region and head of business development for Asia-Pacific.
