Responding to Growing Trade&Investment Flows and Serving Multinationals as Well as Local Corporations
DUBAI - Citi's Global Subsidiaries Group (GSG), a focused client segment for Citi serving multinationals in more than 170 markets around the globe, today announced the establishment of dedicated Japan Desk covering the Middle East and based in Dubai. This move is designed to better serve Japanese clients as they continue to expand into the region in response to increased trade and investment flows into the Middle East.
The Japan Desk will be led by Osamu Okada, a seasoned banker who's held, for the past twenty years, various senior positions with global financial institutions in Tokyo and Dubai covering business development, trade finance, cash management, and risk assessment for large as well as SME-level Japanese corporations.
Working closely with counterparty desks in the Americas, Europe, Africa, Singapore and Hong Kong, the Middle East's Japan Desk will serve Japanese corporations active in the Middle East geography, and leveraging Citi's extensive network, product platform and proven business model in serving companies at home and abroad.
This announcement follows the appointment of Mike Pendill as Middle East Head of Citi's Global Subsidiaries Group based in Dubai. With close to four decades of Citi banking experience, Mike had led critical Citi businesses in North America, Russia, Eastern Europe, and Hong Kong. Under his leadership, the ME GSG group goals is to effectively serve this key segment in the Middle East and to fully support their banking, investment and credit requirements across multiple locations.
Commenting on the expanded Japan coverage, Atiq ur Rehman, Chief Executive Officer for the Middle East Division, said: "Trade and investment flows between Japan and the Region are quite compelling. We believe that setting up a Japan Desk in the Middle East will enable us to facilitate cross-border activities with Japanese companies and allow us to be more responsive on the ground."
Citi has been in the Arab World for nearly 50 years and views the region as critical to its global franchise. It currently offers full scale corporate banking services across ten Arab countries including Egypt, UAE, Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait as well as Pakistan.
Citi's on-the-ground capabilities include Investment Banking, Capital Markets Origination, Equity Sales & Distribution businesses, Global Transactions Services, Equity Research, and Global Islamic Banking serving the MENA region.
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Citi
Citi, the leading global financial services company, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Through Citicorp and Citi Holdings, 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. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com or www.citi.com.
Karim Seifeddine
CITI
Tel: +9714 5099707
Email: karim.seifeddine@citi.com
© Press Release 2011
