Citibank has changed its management structure. It has moved towards a single reporting system for its corporate and consumer banking businesses. Nanoo Pamnani, the former chief executive officer (CEO) and head of consumer banking for Citibank in India, has been now made cluster head of Citibank's corporate and consumer banking businesses in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.
Earlier, the corporate and consumer banking businesses operated independently and reported directly to the region's functional heads.
Sarvesh Sarup, who headed Citibank's M&A (merger and acquisition) and new business operations for the consumer group office in London, will take over as the consumer business head.
Sujit Banerji, the corporate business head, is being relocated to Brussels where he will take charge of strategic and operational planning as well as corporate alliances for central and eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Sanjay Nayyar will be taking over as corporate business head for India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. He was formerly the managing director for Salomon Smith Barney in New York covering emerging markets investor sales.
Victor Menezes, chairman and chief executive officer, Citibank NA, said, "India remains a priority country for Citibank. It is among the few countries where we would like to grow through acquisitions. Two thirds of our growth is through organic growth while one third is through inorganic growth. Here we do not want to focus ourselves as a narrowly positioned foreign bank."
"At this point of time, the regulations are not quite the way we want them to be. The way the current regulations stand, a foreign bank can pick up only 49 per cent stake in a domestic bank. However, it is not valid if the foreign bank has branches here. If regulators allow us, we would like to have both," said Pamnani.
He added, "Salomon Smith Barney is already in India, involved in brokerage and corporate finance. Except for the insurance and the asset management company (AMC), we are there in all the places. If there is an opening, we would like to enter into these areas too."
According to Nayyar, Citibank would like to enter the insurance and asset management businesses before the opening up of pension funds.
"Citibank is looking at growth level of 14-15 per cent, both in consumer and corporate banking. We also look at the revenues from new products every year as well as the number of products each customer has," said Menezes.
On the downgrading of India by global rating agencies, he said, "The rating agencies reflect management actions. People like us who know the market do not adjust our plans."
