WASHINGTON, September 25 (RIA Novosti)– US banking giant Citigroup Inc. has replaced over 40 percent of its senior expatriate bankers in Moscow with Russians over the last four years, and its outgoing Czech-born CEO in Russia foresees a Russian landing the top job there in the future, Bloomberg.com reported Wednesday.
“There will be a Russian head of Citigroup in Russia one day,” outgoing CEO Zdenek Turek, 49, told Bloomberg. “We are grooming more and more Russian managers.”
During Turek’s five year stint as head of Citigroup in Russia, the number of senior expatriates was reduced from 19 to 11. Russians moved into such prominent positions as treasurer and chief operating officer, while a Georgian native was appointed chairman of corporate and investment-banking in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, Bloomberg reported.
An expatriate will still call the shots in Moscow, however, as Frenchman Marc Luet will replace Turek when he leaves to run Citigroup in Western Europe.
New York-based Citigroup resumed operations in Russia 1992, after a 72 year absence following the collapse of the Soviet Union. It is ranked fourth in Russia among foreign retail banks, with more than 1 million clients, according to Bloomberg.
