People: Citi snags Raghavan, SocGen bags Estrada, all change at NYCB, and more

Viswas Raghavan, just recently promoted to head of investment banking at JP Morgan, has left the firm to join Citi as head of banking – a role created as part of Citi’s September shake-up and one of five senior roles that now report directly to chief executive Jane Fraser.

The move occurs merely a month after Raghavan became sole head of JP Morgan’s investment banking division. His former co-head Jim Casey was reassigned to an unspecified position. On Raghavan’s departure, JP Morgan has returned the role to a co-head model, replacing him with Filippo Gori and Doug Petno. Gori was previously CEO of the bank’s Asia-Pacific business and will be based in London, while Petno, who was head of the commercial bank, remains in New York. 

A Citi spokesperson declined to confirm where Raghavan will be based, beyond dividing his time between New York and London. Prior to his appointment, the role was held on an interim basis by Peter Babej.

JP Morgan meanwhile continues to reorganise its markets business. Following the appointment of co-heads Jason Sippel and Pranav Thakur, Rachid Alaoui has taken on Sippel’s previous role as head of global equities. He was most recently head of global equity derivatives trading. 

Also in the markets business, Sanjay Jhamna becomes head of public finance and credit portfolio lending businesses, while maintaining his existing role as head of global credit trading. Rui Fernandes moves to the new role of head of markets trading structuring. He was previously global head of equities and credit structuring.

This reorg means the equities and credit roles that had been held by Sippel since late 2022, as previously reported by Risk.net, have been divided between Alaoui and Jhamna.

Alaoui and Fernandes are based in New York, while Jhamna is based in London. All three will report to Sippel and Thakur.

John Estrada has joined Societe Generale as the bank’s new global head of foreign exchange, reports Risk.net’s sister publication FX Markets. Estrada left Credit Suisse in November last year after serving more than 12 years at the former Swiss bank, now part of UBS. He served as its global head of FX for just under a year, having been global head of electronic macro trading for two years and global head of electronic FX trading for more than nine years. Estrada confirmed the move in a LinkedIn post. A Societe Generale spokesperson was unable to respond to a request for comment at time of publication.  

Last year, Estrada was among a string of high-profile Credit Suisse executives to leave after the bank’s integration into UBS in June. The most recent departures include Aurélien Gleyze, the bank’s former head of FX spot trading for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, who has joined StoneX as head of electronic metals trading. 

A significant fourth-quarter loss for New York Community Bank made for a tumultuous start to the year, culminating in a $1.05 billion cash injection, co-ordinated by newly appointed lead independent director and former Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin – founder and CEO of strategic investor Liberty. 

The loss also led to the departure of CEO Thomas Cangemi on February 29. He is succeeded in his 27-year tenure by Alessandro (Sandro) DiNello, who was CEO of Flagstar Bank prior to its December 2022 acquisition by NYCB. DiNello subsequently served as non-executive chairman of the NYCB board and on February 6 was made executive chairman.

Coinciding with DiNello’s promotion, Marshall Lux has taken over from the departing Hanif Dahya as presiding director of the bank’s board. Lux, who has been an independent director of the board since 2022, also becomes chair of its nominating and corporate governance committee. He was previously a senior partner advising financial services firms at Boston Consulting Group.

On March 1, George Buchanan was made chief risk officer of the bank. Buchanan was most recently at Regions, where he served five years as chief risk officer for consumer banking and wealth management, among the various roles he held there. At the same time, Colleen McCullum was appointed chief audit executive, a role she previously held at United Community Bank. McCullum has also worked at Capital One, Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

The risk shake-up at Santander continues as head of information and cyber risk and executive director of operational risk, Alexander Abramov, has left the bank. His departure comes after four years of building and running the information and cyber risk team in New York. He previously served as a director of information risk for investment services at BNY Mellon and as technology risk controller at JP Morgan’s investment bank. 

Mahi Dontamsetti, global head of non-financial risk & chief technology risk officer (CTRO) at State Street is set to retire after nine years at the bank. He joined the firm’s Boston headquarters as CTRO in 2015. Before joining State Street, he held roles, at DTCC and Barclays. Dontamsetti plans to focus now on the intersection of fintech, artificial intelligence and associated risks.

Troy Kane, a director at Citadel Securities, is leaving his role for a position at exchange operator Miami International Holdings, according to sources familiar with the matter. While Kane’s position at Miax has not been confirmed, it is understood to be a leadership role supporting the company’s futures business. Miax and Citadel Securities declined to comment.  

Rob Croce has joined Fidelity Investments in the new role of portfolio manager in the global asset allocation (GAA) group, an investment team in the asset management solutions division. He arrives from Newton Investment Management, a subsidiary of BNY Mellon, where he led liquid alternatives. Croce reports to managing director of research in GAA Neville McCaghren and is based in Boston.

The Bank of England has rehired Claire Lombardelli to the role of deputy governor for monetary policy. In the interim, Lombardelli, who began her career at BoE, has been chief economist at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development since May 2023. She will take up her new role on July 1, succeeding outgoing deputy governor Ben Broadbent, who has served since 2014, and will report to BoE governor Andrew Bailey.

Brian Young has become director of the whistleblower office at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, replacing outgoing director Christopher Ehrman. Young most recently worked at the Department of Justice as the acting director of litigation for the antitrust division. In his new role he will be based in Washington DC, reporting to director of enforcement Ian McGinley.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has promoted Ted Dowd to acting senior deputy comptroller, starting April 8. Dowd, who also remains chief counsel, takes on the additional role on an interim basis, as the OCC seeks a successor to Ben McDonough, who leaves for another agency. Dowd will report to acting comptroller Michael Hsu and will be based in Washington DC, according to an OCC spokesperson.

Helen Mucciolo will retire from her role as chief financial officer and head of the corporate group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. She has worked at the New York Fed since 1993 in a variety of roles, including two stints as acting first vice-president and chief operating officer – from November 2020 – March 2021 and July 2022 – February 2023.  She will retire in the autumn and a search for a successor will begin shortly.

Nasdaq Private Market has hired two new directors to its capital markets division. Michael Buono and Phil Germann join from online marketplace EquityZen, where Buono was head of the institutional investment sales desk and Germann head of the institutional markets/broker-dealer sales desk. Based in New York, they are tasked with boosting adoption of NPM’s Second Market trading platform, reporting to head of execution Sharif Khaleel.

Securities finance software provider Pirum Systems has appointed Frank Seibold to the new role of head of commercial development for the Americas, where he will focus on expanding the firm’s business in the region. He previously worked at CME as global head of strategic relationship management and head of cash market sales. Seibold is based in Pirum’s New York office and reports to chief revenue officer Jacob Koopmans. 

Norton Rose Fulbright has hired two new partners to its financial services team. Steven Lofchie comes from Fried Frank, where he was a partner in financial services. Among other areas, he will continue to cover the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) dealer definition rule, on which topic he has previously spoken to Risk.net. He is joined by Mark Highman, also from Fried Frank’s financial services department, where he was most recently special counsel. Both are based in New York.

Andrew Karp joined law firm Cadwalader as a partner at the head of the bank regulation practice on March 4, leaving the role of senior special counsel at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Karp will advise on the upcoming Basel III regulations and the firm’s capital relief trades practice, among other areas. He is based in New York.

Teresa Lange Pierson and Shelly Torkelson have joined cloud services and data analytics provider Siepe as directors of compliance and software-as-a-service, respectively. Pierson was previously director of corporate analytics at BNY Mellon, while Torkelson was managing director, client service at Virtus Partners.

The appointments have been made with a view to building up the firm’s experience in collateral loan obligations. Both are new roles, reporting to CEO Michael Pusateri, and based in Houston.

Kevin Carson has joined the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association from the SEC as associate general counsel. Carson will oversee federal government relations from Sifma’s Washington, DC office, reporting to executive vice-president of advocacy Josh Wilsusen, and will assist Sifma’s capital markets lobbying efforts. Carson previously worked as chief counsel to the office of legislative and intergovernmental affairs at the SEC. He began his new role on February 26.

Ignacio Corral has joined digital prime broker GCEX as UK compliance officer, as part of an ongoing drive to grow its UK business. Corral was most recently legal and compliance manager at private equity firm Rede Partners and has spent five years at the Financial Conduct Authority. He will report to GCEX’s founder and CEO Lars Holst and will be based in London.

Sterling Trade Tech has hired Mike Shanahan as lead site reliability engineer. Shanahan was previously Site Reliability Engineer at Citadel. He will report to chief operating officer Brendan O’Sullivan and is based in New Jersey.

Blockchain firm R3 has appointed Bob Wigley to its board as a non-executive director. Wigley, who is based in London, will assist with the firm’s digital markets product. He has been the chair of banking and financial services trade body UK Finance since its inception in 2017.

Additional reporting by Joe Parsons

Editing by Louise Marshall