Citi snares Achnitz from Goldman to head German FX

Citigroup has made two hires to its foreign exchange business in Frankfurt, in a move that global forex head Richard Moore said underlines its commitment to the German market.

“Germany is a very important centre for Europe – not just within the plans for foreign exchange but within the wider corporate investment bank,” Moore told RiskNews’ sister publication FX Week. “It’s difficult to be relevant in Europe if you’re not relevant in Germany. It is strategically and size-wise very important to us.”

The most important hire is Holger Achnitz, new head of FX sales for Germany, who will start on October 1. Achnitz replaces Gerhard Jaensch, who left Citi in September last year. “We’ve hired Holger to lead the initiative, to integrate with the wider capital markets businesses there and to continue to offer top quality foreign exchange advice to our customers in Germany,” Moore said.

Achnitz was previously at Goldman Sachs in Frankfurt, where he was head of corporate liability management. He had previously managed FX sales for Goldman in Frankfurt until the bank moved the business to London in 2001. Achnitz has also previously worked for Bankers Trust and Dresdner Bank in Germany.

When Achnitz joins, Dirk Reulecke, who has filled in as acting FX sales head since Jaensch’s departure, will become head of corporate FX sales in Germany.

A third dealer, Stefanie Holtze, joined on August 1, focusing on corporate customers. Holtz, who will report to Achnitz when he starts, left JP Morgan Chase in London, where she held a risk advisory and sales role.

The move to shore-up Citigroup’s FX business in Germany comes as German rival Deutsche Bank is striving to close the earnings gap between the top two players in global FX.

Meanwhile, Citigroup has also hired a new manager for the leveraged institutional sales team in New York. Scott Silver joins later this month. Silver has held trading and sales positions in the foreign exchange, commodity and risk management areas. He was previously president of Rayner & Stonington, a hedge fund with $80 million under management. Rayner & Stonington specialises in relative-value trading in volatility as an asset class across currency, equities and commodities.