Citigroup has hired Fater Belbachir from Barclays to help lead its equities and securities services group, a unit that will be run under two heads for “greater focus and accountability,” according to an internal memo.
Belbachir, previously the global head of equities and cross-asset structuring at Barclays, will begin leading equities at Citigroup in August, Carey Lathrop and Andy Morton, co-heads of the bank’s markets and securities services, announced in the memo Monday. “Effective immediately, global equities will be run by the two of us, until Fater starts,” they told colleagues.
Citigroup’s markets and securities services unit sits within its institutional clients group. Under the shake-up, existing ESS co-head Okan Pekin will serve as global head of securities services, a business that includes custody and fund service; direct custody and clearing; futures, clearing and foreign exchange prime brokerage; and agency lending, according to the memo.
A spokesperson for Citigroup declined to comment beyond the internal announcement.
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Changes to the unit will help build on the progress Citigroup has made in “ESS revenues, market share and operating efficiency,” Lathrop and Morton wrote in the memo. They said Dan Keegan, “who has been dual-hatting as co-head of ESS and head of North America Markets and Securities Services,” will now focus entirely on the latter position as well as his role as chief executive officer of Citigroup Global Markets.
“The responsibilities and demands of both jobs have increased significantly over the past year,” Lathrop and Morton said. Keegan’s leadership of North America Markets and Securities Services “will be particularly integral going forward as we carefully plan our strategy and operations post-pandemic.”
Belbachir had a relatively short stint at Barclays, which almost a year ago announced his appointment as head of global equities. Before that, he had worked 12 years at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in various equities trading leadership roles, including global head of equity derivatives trading and structuring, according to the Citigroup memo.
