CITIGROUP hired JPMorgan Chase’s Viswas Raghavan as head of banking and executive vice-chair, poaching from a key rival as chief executive officer Jane Fraser presses ahead with the bank’s biggest restructuring in decades.

Raghavan, who is expected to start at the bank in summer, will also join the firm’s executive management team and report directly to Fraser, Citigroup said in an internal memo on Monday (Feb 26).

In his new role, Raghavan will run one of the bank’s five core businesses, responsible for investment, corporate and commercial banking. Citigroup has been looking for a banking head since Fraser reorganised the firm in September in a move designed to propel the company from a banking underdog to one competitive with its more profitable peers.

“Vis is a proven leader and his appointment is another example of our ability to attract the best talent to our firm,” Fraser said in the memo. “Vis is the right person to take over at this pivotal moment for our banking franchise.”

As Citi announced Raghavan’s appointment, JPMorgan elevated Doug Petno and Filippo Gori to lead global banking, the first management shuffle under new commercial and investment banking co-heads Jenn Piepszak and Troy Rohrbaugh. The firm combined its commercial, corporate and investment banking businesses under Petno and Gori, “better aligning our coverage of clients as they grow in size and complexity,” JPMorgan said in an internal memo on Monday.

Raghavan is taking over a business at Citigroup that has long lagged behind its biggest rivals, despite years of effort by leaders to add talent and expand in key areas of investment banking. The unit posted a net loss of US$322 million in the fourth quarter as expenses soared.

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“We certainly aspire to be better,” Fraser said of the unit’s results in January. “We like our pipeline, but of course, the timing for a robust recovery is uncertain.”

During Fraser’s tenure, the company’s stock has slumped 20 per cent, compared with the 21 per cent advance of the S&P 500 Financials Index.

Seasoned dealmaker

With Raghavan, Fraser is getting access to a seasoned dealmaker who’s also led JPMorgan’s sprawling franchise across Europe, the Middle East and Africa since 2017. In her bid to improve returns, Fraser has shown she’s willing to look outside Citigroup’s ranks to secure top talent, adding Bank of America Corp.’s Andy Sieg to lead her burgeoning wealth business last year.

The moves have also helped Citigroup create a deeper bench of executive talent that could one day succeed Fraser, who took the reins at Citigroup three years ago. In jumping to Citigroup, Raghavan reports directly to Fraser, whereas at JPMorgan he had other layers of management between him and CEO Jamie Dimon.

At JPMorgan, Raghavan was most recently head of global investment banking, after previously having served as co-head of global investment and corporate banking since 2020.

Peter Babej, Citigroup’s chair and interim head of banking, will assist with Raghavan’s transition before retiring from the bank as he previously planned, according to the bank’s memo. BLOOMBERG