Citigroup names Slaughter as head of Asia-Pacific investment bank

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc has named Mark Slaughter as Asia-Pacific head of corporate and investment banking (CIB), the U.S. bank said in a statement on Thursday. Slaughter was previously Citigroup's chief operating officer of CIB globally, and succeeds Farhan Faruqui who left last month to join Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. Citi executives have said that catering to companies doing business in Asia is a key part of their aim to thrive on economic growth outside of the United States. "Mark is one of our most senior leaders and his appointment to this position will allow us to continue our momentum in the region," said Raymond McGuire, Citigroup's global head of CIB, said in the statement. Slaughter joined the bank in 2005 after nearly 20 years at Goldman Sachs in Europe, and has relocated from New York to Hong Kong to take up his new role. Citigroup, the third-largest U.S. bank by assets, created the head of CIB role in Asia-Pacific five years ago as part of a global drive to get its commercial and its investment banking arms to work more closely together. Of the bank's $15 billion in revenues in Asia in 2013, 49 percent came from the institutional clients business of which the CIB is the largest unit. So far this year, Citigroup stands in fourth place for advising on announced mergers and acquisitions in Asia Pacific excluding Japan, ahead of Goldman Sachs, according to Thomson Reuters data. The bank is ranked ninth for underwriting equity deals in the region, the data show. Citigroup is also ranked second for underwriting G3-currency bonds in Asia-Pacific so far this year, just behind HSBC. (Reporting by Denny Thomas and Lawrence White; Editing by Christopher Cushing)