Citigroup (NYSE: C) Australia Head Bets Job on Top Three Ranking

Posted by on Jul 22nd, 2010

Citigroup, Inc (NYSE: C)’s top executive in Australia, Stephen Roberts, has put his job on the line by winning a top-three domestic ranking in Australia during the next two years.

“If I’m not in that position in 2012, I won’t be here,” Roberts, who is the country officer for Australia and head of markets and banking, said in an interview with Business Week. “That I guarantee.”

Currently Robert’s takeover advisers received an 11th place ranking this year and has not placed in the top three since 2002. Robert’s share sale arrangers haven’t been there since the 1990’s, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“Foreign banks like Citi have had a tough time breaking into the Australian market,” said Frank Zumbo, associate professor and competition expert at the Australian School of Business, part of the University of New South Wales to Bloomberg. “They’ve got a long way to go in a very tough market.”

Roberts became Citigroup’s top Australia executive in 2008 and became the company’s top banker in Australia in 2003. He began his career in the banking industry in 1984 in New York.

Roberts said that he will rely on a number of new hires to turn around things at Citigroup, Inc (NYSE: C)’s Australia unit. Recently, Roberts hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS)’s regional M&A head Tony Osborne to become head of investment banking in Australia for Citigroup, Inc (NYSE: C). The bank also named UBS AG veteran Brett Paton as vice chairman of Citi’s institutional clients group, which includes the advisory and markets businesses. UBS Alumni Karen Phin has also been named as head of capital management advisory.

“Today, I have what I need,” Roberts said in the July 20 interview with Businessweek at Citigroup’s Sydney offices. “I don’t have any desire to build any other franchises.”

“We were not an efficient place of business in 2007 and 2008,” Roberts said. “There is no question that there has been some brand damage over the last two or three years. Whatever the league table position has been, it hasn’t been commensurate with my expectation. That has to change.”