Citi appoints Paul Hodes to wealth management role

Citi has appointed its Malaysian retail bank head Paul Hodes Asia-Pacific head of wealth management products for its regional consumer bank. The move is part of a drive by the US bank to boost sales of investment products to wealthy Asians.

Hodes will also take on a dual role as Asia-Pacific head of traditional managed investment products for its wealth management business. This job will see him lead the sale of traditional managed investment products, such as bonds and equities, to high-net-worth individuals in the Asia-Pacific region.

His position at the consumer bank is a newly created one, but the wealth management role existed earlier. In the latter role he replaces Stella Chua, who left Citi some time ago.

Hodes will be based in Singapore and will report to Jonathan Larsen, Asia-Pacific head of regional consumer banking, and to Debashish Dutta Gupta, Asia-Pacific head of investments for wealth management.

Hodes joined Citibank in 1998 in Japan and has been in charge of the Malaysian retail bank since December 2007. Prior to his move to Kuala Lumpur he was head of Asia-Pacific regional wealth management business development and based in Singapore. 

Hodes’ appointment comes only days after Citi appointed Jennifer Tay to a newly created post as head of the managed investment product sales team for Asia-Pacific. Manav Abrol moved from Geneva to Singapore to take up Tay’s earlier job of running the investment advisory and sales team for South Asia.