Citigroup’s wealth management business in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region has seen a significant jump in client numbers in recent years notwithstanding financial market squalls. And there is more to come, its head argues.

Citigroup’s
wealth management business in the Europe, Middle East and Africa
region has seen a significant jump in client numbers in recent years
notwithstanding financial market squalls. And there is more to come, its head
argues.

This
wealth management section sits inside the Global Consumer Group at the
US-listed banking titan; it deals with individuals with wealth up to $10
million. (For those with personal investable assets above that figure, they can be clients of the private bank,
which has more of an ultra high net worth focus.) The wealth arm includes the Citigold
Private Client and the Citigold businesses, both prominent brands.  

This
publication recently met with Rajat Garg, regional head
of wealth management, EMEA, in the global consumer group, at the firm’s offices
in London’s Canary Wharf
district.

The
Citi Wealth Management business in this region comprises 11 countries across
EMEA, most of which are in Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle
East. There are no plans at the moment to change the membership,
he said.

Asked
which countries provide the most promise at the moment, Garg said: “Russia, the UAE and Poland based on their economies and
recent growth trajectories.”

The
wealth management business in EMEA is still a relative newcomer, having been
around for a decade, while the EMEA consumer bank is a quarter of a century
old. And the growth rate in terms of clients has been impressive. Three years
ago, the firm had around 80,000 clients. That figure has doubled to around
160,000 and the business in total has client assets under management of around
$30 billion.  

Garg’s
main goal for this business is straightforward: growth. He wants to boost the
number of affluent clinets in the EMEA region, increase the share of
wallet of its existing customers and increase the type of business
relationships. For a big, integrated bank such as Citigroup, this sort of
multi-service ambition makes sense. There are three broad segments of the
global clients arm: offshore investor; expats/"inpats", and global transactor.

Pushing
growth will require more people. At present, Garg’s business has a total of
around 1,000 – “We’re hiring more,” he said.

Step up

To
use his own words, the wealth management business is a bit of a “stepping stone”
for the private bank as clients of Garg’s business area may, hopefully, become
wealthy enough to take a leap up. In this sense, Citi’s wealth arm is a useful
part of the private bank pipeline.

Garg
has the length of service at Citi to give him plenty of perspective
about how such a large organisation needs to work. He has worked at Citi for 24
years; he has worked in Asia, namely, India
and Singapore, and in the
EMEA region, such as Saudi Arabia,
Turkey and the UK.

“What
I’ve noticed is that, having helped set up our Global NRI
[non-resident Indian] wealth management business in 1997 based out of
Singapore, clients have an increasingly global outlook and demand that their
banks meet them and their needs where they are and whenever they want,” he
said.

While
some wealth management firms pride themselves on their “stand-alone” status,
Garg makes it clear that being part of such a big banking group is part of his
firm’s strength, and he likes to emphasise that fact. So far at least, Citi’s
wealth management operation in EMEA is on the right track.