Citigroup restaffs Singapore forex sales

Citigroup has hired new staff to fill a void in its Singapore foreign exchange institutional sales team after three employees defected to Barclays Capital.

The bank has also named Mike Kannberg in Singapore as its new head of global institutional foreign exchange sales to replace one of the three, Marcie Ball, who becomes head of global institutional forex sales for Barclays in non-Japan Asia.

Citi's three new additions are: Jerry Ballschmider, who recently left his position in institutional foreign exchange sales at National Australia Bank in New York; Stephan Cook, formerly of Royal Bank of Canada in Sydney; and Robert Collick of Merrill Lynch in Tokyo.

Ballschmider joins on June 10, Cook on June 20 and Collick on July 5. All three, as well as existing institutional forex sales dealer Henrik Alvin, will be based in Singapore reporting to Kannberg.

In addition to his foreign exchange responsibilities, Kannberg holds a number of positions, including head of the Singapore leg of Citi's global leveraged team and head of the Asian central banks business.