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Citi to beef up regional investment banking team

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Plans 10%-15% boost in Japan headcount, new hires in

Australia

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Greater uncertainty drives up cross-border, supply chain

deals

By Selena Li

HONG KONG, July 16 (Reuters) - Citigroup ( C/PN ) plans to

raise its investment banking headcount in Japan by 10% to 15%

over the next year and make new hires in Australia, as part of

its strategy to bolster growth in the Asia Pacific, its top

regional banker said.

Rising interest in cross-border mergers and acquisitions

(M&A) in Japan has resulted in Citi seeing a 140% rise in its

investment banking fees in the country to $92 million as of July

10 compared to the same period last year, Dealogic data shows.

"We are hiring and strengthening our regional investment

banking team in a very meaningful way," Jan Metzger, Citi's Asia

Pacific head of investment banking, told Reuters.

"We're going to be in the market that's growing phenomenally

and we're going to be growing faster than the market," Metzger

said. The U.S.-headquartered bank did not disclose specific

staff numbers for each market.

Japan's investment banking business, in particular, will

"meaningfully grow" due to a shift in corporate governance, a

regulatory nudge to corporates to improve market value, and

strong supply of advanced hardware technologies, Metzger said.

In Japan, Citi exclusively advised Nippon Steel on its $14.9

billion acquisition of U.S. Steel last month.

"I think off the back of the Nippon Steel deal, our phones

are really ringing off the hook with clients that have

complicated geopolitical deals to do, both from Japan and

elsewhere," Metzger said.

Citi has beefed up its investment banking team in Asia this

year by recruiting senior bankers from rivals, including senior

managing director Akira Kiyota from Nomura in Japan and former

Goldman Sachs veteran Philippe Perzi in Australia.

On Tuesday, Citi reported a 13% rise in global investment

banking fees in the second quarter.

DRIVING UP DEALS

Dealmaking in the U.S. and some markets stalled shortly

after Trump unleashed hefty tariff hikes earlier this year,

which weighed on economic growth. However, Metzger said he is

seeing greater uncertainty driving up supply chain deals.

Japan is leading Asia's M&A rebound in 2025 with a record

$232 billion worth of deals in the first half, and bankers

expect the trend to sustain fuelled by take-private

arrangements, outbound investments and private equity activity.

Meanwhile, as volume and number of international deals climb

in Australia, global banks now have an edge over local boutiques

in a highly competitive market, according to Metzger.

Having a "full banking offering" in the market helps Citi

better compete with its advisory-focused competitors in

Australia, he said.

Besides deals advisory, another regional focus for the bank

is convertible bond issuances, which have leapt over the past

year. The bank helped Alibaba ( BABA ) raise HK$12 billion

($1.5 billion) via an exchangeable bond offering earlier this

month.

Investors have flocked to convertible bonds from Chinese

tech companies, viewing them as undervalued assets offering

downside protection through the bond component to hedge

geopolitical risks, Metzger said.