ôMy goal is to build more connections across our businesses for our clients,ö says Russell.
Russell takes over as head of SFS from Margaret Dawson, who will retire from Citi in April. Prior to his most recent role as managing director of SFS, Russell has worked primarily in client management and sales at Citi.
Expanding in transaction banking services is a focus for Citi. ôWeÆve grown revenue in this business [global transaction services] by 23% over the last four years. Last year in the cash business alone we had business wins representing more than $1 billion of revenues,ö Citi CEO Vikram Pandit said in a May 2008 speech posted on SeekingAlpha.com. ôAs a result of business reviews we made a decision to invest an addition $300 million in GTS this year. The metrics weÆre going to be focused on in this business is our growth in deposits and assets under custody as well as pre-tax margins.ö
RussellÆs mandate will be to expand the bankÆs market share in the SFS business, while improving client services. This goal reinforces PanditÆs commitment to invest in and expand CitiÆs GTS business.
According to Pandit, the bank has approximately a 3.5% global market share in GTS.
The current economic crisis has done little to hamper CitiÆs growth in transaction banking services and Russell sees growth opportunities in the renewed interest among clients to outsource middle and back office operations as they strive to cut costs.
Russell remains bullish on the prospects for CitiÆs SFS activities. ôBrokers will bounce back and even if they are merging or transforming into traditional banks, they still need to trade in securities,ö he says.
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