Citi has promoted its Asia-Pacific co-head Stephen Bird to the position of sole chief executive of Asia, while his former co-head, Shirish Apte, will become chairman of the region.

Citi has promoted its Asia-Pacific
co-head Stephen Bird to the position of sole chief executive of Asia, while his
former co-head, Shirish Apte, will become chairman of the region, according to an internal memo seen by WealthBriefingAsia.

Since 2009 Bird and Apte have shared the role, with Bird focusing on China, Hong
Kong, Korea and Taiwan, and Apte concentrating on South and Southeast Asia.
Bird will run Asia, but he will also continue to spend time with key clients in
North Asia, said the memo, which was signed by Citi CEO Vikram Pandit and president and chief operating officer, John Havens. 

The chairman role will be more client-facing and will give Apte more
time to spend with key clients in India and the Asean region. Both roles are effective from 1 January 2012. 

"We'll be relying on Shirish to expand our client business in India and Southeast Asia and act as a key liaison with financial and regulatory officials. His deep knowledge of the region and extensive relationships will continue to serve our clients and shareholders well. These important changes speak to the globality, focus on clients, and development of leaders which are at the core of our firm," said Pandit and Havens in the statement.

Under Bird and Apte’s leadership, the
US bank’s Asia business has just announced its strongest ever third-quarter
results, recording a profit of $1.4 billion, constituting 36 per cent of profits globally.

Stephen Bird joined Citi in Singapore in
1998 as the Asia-Pacific head for operations and technology. In addition to his
role as CEO of Citi North Asia he has been head of consumer banking and global
cards in Asia-Pacific, leading the retail banking, credit card and
consumer finance businesses that serve more than 32 million customers. He served four years in Citi Japan as CEO of credit cards and consumer finance. He was also head of operations and technology for Citi Latin America.

Shirish Apte has 28 years of
experience with Citi, starting as a relationship manager with Citi India. He
has also been securities and banking CEO for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle
East and Africa, and before that was country manager and deputy president of
Citi in Handlowy, Poland. He has held various positions in corporate banking,
risk management and corporate finance and investment banking before becoming
securities and banking head in India.