July 29 (Reuters) - Citigroup ( C/PN ) has hired Pankaj

Goel from JPMorgan Chase ( JPM ) to co-lead its technology

investment banking, according to a memo seen by Reuters on

Tuesday.

Goel, who has more than twenty years of technology

experience, was most recently global chair of technology

investment banking at JPMorgan ( JPM ), according to the memo, signed by

Citi's head of North America investment banking, Jens Welter.

He will lead alongside Mark Keene, who joined Citi in 2019

as head of tech investment banking.

The announcement comes amid a slew of high-profile hires at

Citi as the bank expands its investment banking business and

revenue.

Last week, the bank hired another JPMorgan ( JPM ) alum, Bernal

Vargas, to lead its equity capital markets division in North

America, according to a memo seen by Reuters. This followed the

hiring of Goldman Sachs ( GS ) veteran David Friedland as

co-head of Citi's North America investment banking coverage.

The bank last month also appointed Drago Rajkovic as its

co-head of mergers and acquisitions, in another high profile

staffing win over rival JPMorgan ( JPM ), where Rajkovic was global

chairman of M&A.

Goel's recent deals include Altair's $10.6 billion sale to

Siemens AG and Altium's $6 billion sale to Renesas. He also

worked on an $11 billion joint venture between Intel and Apollo.

The talent acquisition spree underscores expectations of

heightened M&A activity in the second half of the year, as a

rallying equities market prices in a softer U.S. trade stance

and robust macroeconomic data.