Financial institutions head Babej named as Citi’s Asia-Pacific CEO

CITIGROUP (Citi) on Thursday named financial institutions group head Peter Babej as CEO of its Asia-Pacific region, who will begin his transition immediately.

Having joined Citi since 2010, Babej is known for having worked on some of the biggest deals in the sector, including Ant Financial’s record-breaking $14 billion fundraising round last year.

Babej has been at Citi since 2010 when he joined as cohead of its financial institutions group. He later became the sole head of the group in 2017. Prior to Citi, he held senior banking positions at Deutsche Bank and Lazard.

In his new role based in Hong Kong, he will draw on his “deep knowledge” of the financial services landscape in Asia, where the group continues to see great opportunities, including fast-growing digital adoption, according to an internal memo.

Babej will take over from Tim Monger, who was acting as interim CEO of the region over the past several months. Monger will now focus on his responsibilities as chief financial officer of the region and help Babej in the year-end processes.

A process is also underway to identify Babej’s successor for the role he is vacating.

In its latest third-quarter results on Tuesday, Citi in the Asia-Pacific reported a seven per cent jump in revenue to $4.01 billion as well as a 10 per cent surge in net income to $1.27 billion. The Asia-Pacific is Citi’s second-largest region outside North America, contributing around one fifth of revenues and close to a third of net income.