Citigroup plans to hire 500 people for new wealth unit

Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C) is planning to hire 500 employees over the next three years for a new wealth division, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing an interview with Naz Vahid, the segment’s global head.

The bank has started the unit, known as Wealth at Work, last year to cater to junior employees at private equity offices, consultancies and accounting firms, betting those clients will become ultra-wealthy and maintain their relationship with Citigroup.

Citi tapped private-banking executive Vahid to oversee the segment’s development.

“We acquire clients when they have more debt than money,” Vahid said. “We get them when they’re early in their careers, when they’re not yet wealth clients, and they’re extremely busy individuals,” she said, adding, “We get them young, and we keep them.”

Vahid’s division is a critical unit of Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser’s plans to remake Citi into a wealth-management powerhouse. The business generated $353 million in revenue in the first six months of the year — a 3% jump from a year earlier — and was the only one of Citigroup’s wealth operations that posted an increase for the period.

Picture Credit: BBC

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