People moves: Paco packs up at Citi, Credit Suisse exits continue, and more

Paco Ybarra, chief executive officer of Citi’s institutional client group, is to leave the bank in the first half of 2024, after 36 years of service. Before becoming head of ICG in 2019, Ybarra led Citi’s combined markets and securities services business, where he is credited with helping establish its footing as a fixed income powerhouse. The move is the latest in a series of senior moves at the US bank.

Ybarra helped the bank navigate some of its most challenging moments, including the 1994 Mexican peso crisis, the global financial crisis and the coronavirus pandemic. His work across the ICG, personal bank and wealth businesses, while also driving investments in Citi’s services business, helped develop the bank’s strategy to improve its revenue mix and increase returns.

An internal memo, seen by Risk.net, describes Ybarra as cool under fire.

Ybarra says the decision to leave the firm was his own, following discussions with CEO Jane Fraser. The bank has yet to name a successor, but says it will include Ybarra in the decision-making.

At Credit Suisse, the door continues to revolve, following its failure and acquisition by UBS. James Howard, former head of fixed income investor products at the firm, has left to join alternative asset manager Arini, as chief risk officer. He joins a growing team of former Credit Suisse colleagues at Arini, which was established in 2022 by Hamza Lemssouguer, a former distressed debt trader for the Swiss firm.

Howard joined Credit Suisse over 20 years ago, and was promoted to head of structured credit trading in 2010. He subsequently ran credit solutions trading then solutions sales for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, before moving to his most recent position in 2017.

He left the bank at the end of 2022, shortly after the departure of Paul Bajer, head of credit structuring. Bajer joined Deutsche Bank last September to co-head the cross-asset and platforms group. Howard starts his new role on September 1, according to his LinkedIn page.

Continuing the Credit Suisse exodus, Manuel Rodriguez, former head of Latin America and Caribbean coverage in the financings and corporate derivatives group, joins Oppenheimer & Co as head of the Latin America investment banking group. He will report to Robert Lowenthal, president of Oppenheimer and head of investment banking, based in the firm’s New York headquarters.

Rodriguez joins the firm after a 17-year career at Credit Suisse, where he specialised in bespoke structured credit and financing transactions in Latin America and the Caribbean. He was a member of the team that developed and structured ‘blue bond’ transactions for Barbados, Belize and Ecuador.

Former Credit Suisse director of US public policy Georgette Sierra has joined the Managed Funds Association as vice-president for US government affairs. She will lead the trade group’s US advocacy efforts.

Prior to joining the firm, Sierra was director of government affairs at BNP Paribas and vice-president of government affairs at the Financial Services Roundtable. She previously worked in the US government as an adviser on financial services matters, including on the Troubled Asset Relief Program (Tarp) Act of 2008.

RBC Capital Markets has appointed Giles Gleave as managing director and head of European equity solutions. Based in London, he will lead the firm’s planned expansion of its North American corporate equity derivative franchise into Europe. He reports to Jason Goss, head of European solutions and structured product sales, and Graeme Bath, global head of corporate equity derivatives.

Gleave joins from Nomura, where he was head of equity solutions for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He previously worked at BAML, Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers.

Mike Heraty has also been appointed as a managing director and head of US equity solutions and structured product sales. Based in New York, he reports to Sian Hurrell, head of global sales and relationship management and global markets, Europe.

Heraty is another departure from Credit Suisse, where he spent four years as head of North American equity derivatives sales. He previously spent 11 years with BAML, where he led North American client solutions sales, and was co-head of cross-asset solutions and strategies.

Shobhit Thapar has joined HSBC as a managing director for risk management in New York. He previously spent 15 years at Morgan Stanley, where his roles included head of traded credit and securitised products, market risk. He has also been an adjunct professor for the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey since January 2022.

Sarah Breeden will become deputy governor of the Bank of England with responsibility for financial stability, with effect from November 1. She will succeed Jon Cunliffe, who has held the position since 2013, and will serve a term of five years. As part of her new role, Breeden will sit on the financial policy, monetary policy and prudential regulation committees.

She is currently executive director for financial stability strategy and risk, and a member of the financial policy committee. She was previously executive director with responsibility for supervising UK deposit-takers.

The US Department of the Treasury has appointed Andrea Gacki as director of its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. She will take over from Himamauli ‘Him’ Das, who will continue as FinCEN’s acting director during a transition period and assist Gacki throughout her onboarding process.

Gacki is currently director of the department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, where she has been involved in implementing and enforcing economic sanctions.

Christopher Ehrman has stepped down from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, after 10 years as director of the US regulator’s whistleblower office.

Christina McGlosson, the office’s associate director, has become acting director following his departure. She additionally brings experience from her time as the associate director of the CFTC’s enforcement division from 2017 until 2021. She joined the agency following 19 years with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, latterly as senior special counsel at the economic and risk analysis division.

Louis Petherick is to join wealth management firm Brooks Macdonald as group chief risk officer, with effect from September 4, subject to regulatory approval. He will lead the firm’s group risk, investment risk, compliance and financial crime functions, and serve on its executive committee. He will report to chief executive Andrew Shepherd.

Petherick has 30 years’ experience in financial services with a specific focus on risk management. He leaves FNZ UK, where he is chief risk officer – having previously held the same position for AJ Bell. He also held senior risk positions at M&S Bank, Co-operative Bank, Lloyds Banking Group and ING Direct.