Citibank and Salomon Smith Barney have announced that sales coverage in the Asia-Pacific region for fixed income products - government, corporate and agency securities - will be combined into a common platform.
This merged team will comprise SSB's global fixed income sales team in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Korea, together with the Citibank investor sales professionals based in Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Ferdy Khouw, currently head of financial markets sales for Citibank Asia Pacific in Singapore, will head up the new group. In this role, Khouw will report jointly to Stephen Roberts, head of Asia-Pacific fixed income with Salomon Smith Barney; Paco Ybarra, head of financial markets for Citibank Asia Pacific; and Jeremy Amias, head of international fixed income sales for CitigroupÆs corporate and investment bank. Amias will relocate to Asia for the next year to oversee the integration process.
"The decision to combine both teams has really been driven by the goal to offer our customers an even higher level of service," says Ybarra. "By combining both fixed income distribution platforms we present a single face to our fixed income clients in the region and it lets us provide a more seamless, efficient and comprehensive service throughout Asia Pacific."
