Citigroup is simplifying the management structure in its private bank following the departure of Ida Liu, who announced Monday that she will resign this month after 18 years at the megabank.
Effective immediately, Liu’s role as global head will be eliminated, and Citi will instead focus its private bank on four geographic regions whose leaders will report directly to Andy Sieg, Citi’s head of wealth.
The four leaders now reporting to Sieg are Steven Lo, who is heading up Japan, Asia North, Asia South and Australia; Antonio Gonzales, who leads Latin America; James Holder, in charge of the United Kingdom, Europe and the Middle East; and Cayman Wills, the interim head of North America.
The private bank, which serves ultra high-net-worth individuals, family offices and law firms, is one of three divisions within wealth management. Sieg has been trying to build out Citi’s wealth management business, which is one of the company’s five major business lines.
The move to cut a management layer — which has been a major component of the recent firmwide organizational overhaul led by CEO Jane Fraser — is one of several changes Sieg announced Monday in an internal memo.
He also announced the hiring of Christian Zeinler, a former head of strategy at the investment bank UBS, who will fill a newly created role as head of strategy for Citi’s wealth business as a whole, and also become head of business execution for the private bank.
In addition, the private bank’s family office group, which Hannes Hofmann oversees, will become part of a new group called “integrated client engagement,” which is being led by recent hire Dawn Nordberg. Liu had previously overseen that group.
The changes are designed to “enable even closer collaboration with leaders of the products and functions essential to delivering for our clients around the world,” Sieg said in the memo.
Sieg, who was hired away from Bank of America Merrill Lynch in 2023 to revamp Citi’s wealth business, said the private bank remains a key component of the overall growth strategy.
“Over the past year, across Citi Wealth, we have refocused our business strategy, simplified our organization and set a new trajectory for growth,” he wrote. “Citi Private Bank will be key to continuing this momentum, with its deep connections to wealthy clients and families.”
Liu’s departure is noteworthy in that she is one of Citi’s highest-ranking women executives and a prominent supporter of women in banking. In 2024, she was No. 17 on American Banker’s Most Powerful Women in Finance list. She’s been in charge of the private bank for four years.
Liu started her career as an investment banker, but she switched industries in 2004 to become a fashion executive. In 2007, she returned to banking after pitching Citi on launching a fashion, media and entertainment practice within its private bank. Citi bit, and in the years following, Liu served in several roles.
She launched the Asian Clients Group to capture more business from Citi’s largest Asian clients and led the private bank in New York before becoming the unit’s North American head — a role she held until 2021, when she was promoted to run the entire private bank.
In a LinkedIn post, Liu said Monday that she decided to leave Citi to “embark on the next chapter of [her] professional journey, adding that “this is the right time for me to leverage my global experience, leadership experience and passion for growth in bold and exciting new ways.”
