Citi Announces New Private Bank Leadership in Asia Pacific

HONG KONG: Citi today announced the appointment of Bassam Salem as CEO of Citi Private Bank, Asia Pacific. Bassam will replace Aamir Rahim, who has been appointed Head of Citi's Public Sector Group for Asia Pacific.

Bassam joined Citi Private Bank in Geneva in 1985 and for the next fifteen years held several roles including serving as a banker, Regional Investments Head in Asia and EMEA, and ultimately as Global Investments Head. In 2001 he joined EFG Bank, a privately-held Swiss Bank, to start and lead their Investment Division. After helping list the bank on the Swiss Stock Exchange, he moved to Singapore to expand EFG in Asia and the Middle East.

"We are delighted to welcome Bassam back to Citi Private Bank, following a successful entrepreneurial career at EFG and believe that his broad experience will enable us to take the business to a new level and capitalise on the opportunities we are seeing in Asia," said Jane Fraser, CEO, Citi Private Bank. "We especially want to thank Aamir for his leadership over three years of building the Private Bank's Asia Pacific franchise and for his many contributions to the business."

Bassam will be based in Hong Kong and will join Citi's Asia Pacific Executive Committee. He will begin his new role in early autumn 2011. Deepak Sharma, Chairman of Citi Private Bank, has agreed to take on leadership of Citi Private Bank in Asia on an interim basis during the transition.

"We are pleased to welcome Bassam back to Citi. He brings a wealth of experience in client coverage, and entrepreneurial spirit to our industry-leading Private Bank in Asia," said Stephen Bird, Asia Pacific CEO of Citi.

"The Private Bank is key to Citi Asia Pacific's institutional business. Over the past three years, Aamir has made great strides in strengthening the links between our institutional bank platform and our high net worth clientele, and we look forward to Bassam building on that achievement," said Shirish Apte, Asia Pacific CEO of Citi.

Citi Private Bank is a trusted advisor to the world's wealthiest, most influential individuals and families. Among its select clients are a third of the world's billionaires. Citi is the largest wealth manager in Asia Pacific with assets under management of US$193 billion.

About Citi

Citi, the leading global financial services company, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2010