Terence Chia, Citi’s co-head of debt syndicate for Asia-Pacific, left the bank yesterday, according to sources.
Chia had been working at Citi for nearly a decade, and had spent the past five years working on the syndicate desk. He became co-head of syndicate for Asia-Pacific in 2010 alongside Duncan Phillips after Paul Au, who was previously head of syndicate at Citi, left to join UBS.
According to a source, Chia has left to join a rival bank. Word on the street is that he is headed to Credit Suisse. The Swiss bank has been seeking a new syndicate head since it lost two syndicate bankers -- Devesh Ashra and Hital Desai -- to Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Ashra was head of debt syndicate for non-Japan Asia and Desai was a director on the syndicate desk. Both bankers quit the firm in March and have started work at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Chia, who is originally from Singapore, started his career at UOB, where he worked for a year-and-a-half. With his departure, there are three bankers on the Citi syndicate desk, including Phillips.
Chia, Credit Suisse and Citi all declined to comment.
