Citi hires head of intermediaries for Asia Pacific

US bank Citi announced yesterday that it had re-hired George Hindmarsh from Northern Trust to serve as Asia-Pacific head of intermediary client coverage.

Hindmarsh started in the role two weeks ago based in Singapore to replace Philippe Dirckx, who left Citi this January, according to his LinkedIn profile, meaning the position has remained vacant at Citi for the past eight months.

The move sees Hindmarsh take on responsibility for origination and relationship management across banks, broker-dealers, global custodians and other intermediaries for Citi’s direct custody and clearing business in the region.

The unit provides asset servicing and transaction functions to intermediaries such as broker-dealers and banks, as well as fund managers, insurance companies and other global investors through Citi’s proprietary network.

David Russell, Citi’s Asia-Pacific head of securities services, highlighted Hindmarsh’s experience with intermediaries and expressed confidence he would drive growth in the business across 16 Asian markets.

Hindmarsh is returning to his former stomping ground, having spent seven years with Citi from 2005, initially as a client sales manager in Hong Kong before relocating to London as head of the Asia Pacific desk, and subsequently head of UK investor services product.

He moved to Northern Trust as head of business development for Asia Pacific in August 2012 based in Singapore, as reported, a role he held until rejoining Citi.

Over a career spanning 20 years, Hindmarsh has also served in client relationship roles for HSBC in Hong Kong and Canada.

After leaving Citi at the start of this year, Dirckx worked as a senior adviser to the Asia Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (Asifma) for two months, helping to formulate policy and strategy on collateral.

In April Dirckx joined as a managing director at Swift, an organization that provides a network for financial institutions to send and receive information in a secure environment. Based in Hong Kong, he is part of Swift’s Asia-Pacific management team.

AsianInvestor understands that Rohan Singh has been tasked with business development leadership at Northern Trust, replacing Hindmarsh. Singh was promoted to Singapore country head and head of Southeast Asia this August, relocating from Australia. He has worked at Northern Trust since January 2007.