Jim O'Donnell, the head of Citigroup's European equities business, is moving to New York to take on the higher ranked role of head of US equities, a newly created position.
The promotion is the first major personnel move in Citigroup's equities business since James Forese became global head of equities in May.
The news came a day before Sandy Weill said he would relinquish his position as chief executive of the bank (see story on page 8).
Citigroup's US equities business used to be covered by the global equities head, but Forese has decided that a separate US head would help to better integrate the bank's different equity businesses in the US - sales trading, research, and equity capital markets.
For the first half of 2003 Citigroup ranked second in US ECM, according to Dealogic, helping it to third position globally, but it only ranked 10th in Europe.
Citigroup completed a review of its global equities franchise earlier this year. The business has been shaken by falling primary market volumes and the damage to the bank's reputation from misleading analyst research, in particular in connection with disgraced former telecoms analyst Jack Grubman.
As a result of O'Donnell's promotion, Jim Cowles will move from New York, where he is head of global ECM, to London as the new head of European equities. Cowles has worked at Citigroup since 1979 and has held several positions including head of debt capital markets, head of real estate investment banking and commercial mortgage trading, and deputy head of investment banking.
To replace Cowles, Tyler Dickson will be promoted from co-head of US ECM to global head of ECM, staying in New York. Rick Bartlett, the co-head of US ECM alongside Dickson, will take on sole responsibility for the business. Michael Lavelle, European head of ECM, will continue in the same position.
Before joining Citigroup in 1999, O'Donnell was president and chief operating officer of HSBC Securities in New York. Before that, he was president and chief executive of NatWest Securities in the US.