Citigroup creates Asia-Pacific COO position

Shengman Zhang, vice-chairman of the global banking division of Citigroup Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) in New York, will start in October as chief operating officer for Asia-Pacific at CIB, a new position based in Hong Kong.

Reporting to Robert Morse, CIB’s chief executive for Asia-Pacific, Zhang will work on areas including business strategy and planning. He will assume responsibility for the region’s support functions, including human resources, legal, finance, operations and technology, and corporate affairs.

Zhang will leave his role as chairman of the public sector group in due course, but will have responsibility for public- and private-sector priority clients across the region.

“Shengman’s expertise in the Asia-Pacific region, coupled with his international, economic and banking experience, reinforces the strength of Citigroup’s regional team and will further contribute to our business momentum,” said Morse.

Before joining Citigroup last year, Zhang worked for the World Bank in Washington, DC, from 2001–2005, where he was in charge of worldwide lending and advisory operations and most of the corporate and support functions.

Zhang was earlier vice-president and corporate secretary of the World Bank and managing director for corporate and support functions and for product sectors and geographic regions. From 1994 to 1995, he was a member of the executive board for China, and before that he held several senior positions at the Ministry of Finance in China.