Citi has named Jig Patel as head of prime finance for Japan, Asia North, Australia (JANA) and Asia South, as part of the firm’s push to develop its prime finance offering in these markets.
Jig Patel
Patel will be based out of Hong Kong in his new role and is set to support the growth of Citi’s prime finance platform, as well as assume the responsibility for prime product, stock borrow and lending, synthetic prime brokerage, funding trading, in business risk and the oversight of the client executive function.
He will report to Robert Stewart, head of equity trading for JANA and Asia South, as well as global heads of prime services, Sebastien Mailleux and Tim Tomalin-Reeves.
Speaking on the appointment, Stewart told The TRADE: “We are delighted to welcome Jig to Citi. His wealth of experience in prime across Asia coupled with his deep client relationships make him an invaluable addition to our team.
“This key appointment underscores Citi’s strategic ambition to continue the growth of our prime business and will accelerate the development and expansion of our offering across these important markets.”
He joins the firm from Millennium, where he had served as Asia treasurer for two years, overseeing portfolio financing, liquidity management, cash and collateral management and counterparty risk.
Prior to this, he spent almost 30 years at Goldman Sachs where he helped to build out their Asia prime business.
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Patel’s appointment follows significant traction in Citi’s prime services business in the last few months, with Paul Smith, Citi head of markets for JANA speaking earlier this year of plans for a hiring push between 5 to 10% across prime in Asia.
Additionally, the firm saw a strong set a Q2 results for this year, with prime services driving growth in equity market revenues, and record prime balances up by approximately 27%.