Citi nabs two from Merrill Lynch

Citigroup has once again delighted the regional headhunting community with the appointment of two senior bankers to its offices in Singapore and Hong Kong. In Singapore the firm has named Tracey Woon to be the head of investment banking for Singapore and Malaysia. Woon will be an MD.

Joining the firm in Hong Kong is Ken Poon who will be head of Asia Pacific equity capital markets (ECM) and also an MD. Both Woon and Poon join from Merrill Lynch.

Woon has been on the A list of Singapore investment banking talent for more than 20 years, having worked at Smith New Court which was taken over by Merrill, and before that at Wardleys (now HSBC Investment Bank). She will report to Sanjiv Misra, head of global corporate and investment banking business in Singapore and Brunei and Gordon Paterson, head of Asia Pacific investment banking.

"Singapore and Malaysia are key markets for us and we see a lot of growth opportunities to build on our strong relationships there," says Paterson. "We wanted someone with the experience and contacts in both markets. With Tracey leading the team, we're confident we can build on our successes."

Woon's appointment will go some way to filling the void in Citi's investment banking division in Singapore since previous head Richard Seow and several colleagues left the firm earlier this year. It is unclear so far whether or not Seow and co. are joining another bank or perhaps setting up a new venture on their own.

In Hong Kong, Ken Poon has joined the bank's ECM division, bringing the number of MDs in the group to four. He will work with Kirsty Mactaggart, Willy Liu and Craig Duffy, while reporting to Tyler Dickson, global head of ECM and David Radcliffe, head of Asia Pacific equities.

He joins a team that has grown its revenues by a factor of six in the last three years, according to sources close to the bank. There will now be 18 people in Citi's regional ECM team.