Citi continues to bolster equities franchise.
Citi has hired Michela Ferrulli as the new head of equities sales and sales trading for Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEEMA) from Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML).
The 20-year veteran who will also act as a managing director of the bank, had been with BAML for more than six years as head of Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EEMEA) equity sales. She has previous experience at Citi, having spent 11 years at the firm between 2001 and 2012, working on both the Europe, Middle East, and Asia and Latin America regions.
“We are confident Michela will be a great partner and asset to our business,” Mark Robinson, head of cash equities for the EMEA region said in an email to staff. “Her appointment highlights our continued focus on building the momentum of our equities franchise.”
The latest appointment highlights the US investment bank’s continued focus on bolstering its equities franchise. The company has made various senior hires from its competitors since last year in a bid to strengthen the business. They include Christophe Pochart, who joined from BNP Paribas to co-head North American equity derivatives sales and the multi-asset group for the Americas, and Lorenzo Leccesi from JP Morgan to head up UK and Ireland equity derivative and cross-asset solution sales.
Citi also expanded its equities execution team last summer, with the addition of Joseph Sidibe from BAML who joined the bank in a newly-created role as a senior salesman within the equities electronic execution business.
Cash equities declined 3% to $9.2bn across Wall Street last year, but according to industry analysts Citi’s cash equities business, while smaller than competitors at the top of the league tables, actually grew by more than 7% in 2017.
First-quarter trading revenue is on pace to post a percentage increase of “low to mid-single digits” from a year earlier, chief financial officer John Gerspach said at a recent investor conference. The equities business has a chance to hit $1bn in revenue this quarter, he said, which would be the first time eclipsing that mark since 2015.
The bank’s equities and foreign-exchange businesses have seen the biggest boost as markets have experienced sharper swings, Gerspach said. While investors stepped away during some of the most volatile periods, they’ve largely been more active this quarter, he said.
Volatility is back in markets, as US stocks had their worst single-day plunge in almost seven years last month and 10-year Treasury yields reached the highest level in more than four years.
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