Citi merges forex and rates businesses

Citigroup has merged foreign exchange with derivatives and interest rate products to form its new global rates and currencies group.

Effective from January 1, Richard Moore, who also remains as global head of forex, and Geoffrey Coley, formerly co-head of global credit markets, manage the new group, which sits within global fixed income. Jim Forese, formerly global head of the interest rates and derivatives group, which no longer exists as a standalone unit, becomes global head of emerging markets local finance.

Bringing together forex, interest rates, sovereign, agency and supranational trading; credit, hybrid and municipal derivatives; and foreign exchange and derivatives marketing, the new group will enable Citi to increase its cross-product offering, the bank said.

"We have been leaders in providing integrated solutions to clients by harnessing the creativity of our professionals across all segments of the debt and currency markets," said Tom Maheras, head of global fixed income, in an internal memo obtained by RiskNews' sister publication FX Week. "The formation of the global rates and currencies group will enable us to further capitalise on such synergies." A spokesperson for the bank in New York said no job cuts are imminent as a result of the move. Cuts from the bank’s corporate and investment-banking unit, made in November last year, which reportedly affected some forex positions, are unrelated to the latest reorganisation, the spokesperson added.

Banks’ efforts to integrate foreign exchange with debt market trading have gathered pace in recent months, as client demand for cross-product sales teams has increased.

Many have restructured trading floors to reflect the closer interaction forex staff now have with their fixed-income counterparts. HSBC, at its new London building in Canary Wharf, and Credit Suisse First Boston in Zurich are among the banks that have followed this path.

Others have reorganised their entire sales divisions. Credit Agricole Indosuez, for example, last year reorganised its sales group into separate units for corporates and financial institutions. At that time, FX sales dealers for both client groups were re-trained to sell interest rate and credit derivatives as well.