Citigroup reshuffles rates business with a heightened focus on Japan

[LONDON] Citigroup is reorganising its regional rates businesses in a move that includes a sharper focus on the non-linear market in Japan.

Thomas Reich, who had co-run non-linear rates trading, will now focus solely on Japan, according to an internal memo by Deirdre Dunn, the firm’s head of rates trading. Reich’s former co-head Richard Yang becomes sole head of non-linear rates trading for North America and Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

“The landscape in Japan is rapidly changing, requiring additional focus to capture the opportunities that come with change,” Dunn said in the memo. Demand for skilled traders focused on the country has intensified in recent months after the yen rates market witnessed some of its biggest moves in years.

Tom Prickett has also joined Citi from JPMorgan Chase to be head of Emea G10 rates in London, the memo said. He will join the rates executive committee and report to Dunn, with a line to Emea markets head Amit Raja. Prickett had been at JPMorgan for 24 years, according to his LinkedIn profile.

A Citi spokesperson confirmed the contents of the memo and declined to comment further.

Citi previously hired JPMorgan’s global head of portfolio trading, Paul Glezer, in a new role leading the bank’s systematic trading in a key markets division, Bloomberg News reported in June.

Revenue from the bank’s fixed-income trading business soared 20 per cent to US$4.3 billion in the second quarter, beating the US$3.9 billion predicted by analysts in a Bloomberg survey. BLOOMBERG