Citigroup Hires Former BT Exec for Private Banking

Citigroup Inc. is intensifying efforts to build its global private banking group.

Last week the $690 billion-asset banking company said it hired Peter K. Scaturro, a former Bankers Trust Corp. executive, to run its U.S. private bank.

Mr. Scaturro, 39, who has already started at Citigroup, reports to Shaukat Aziz, the company's head of global private banking operations.

He succeeds Frank Burnside, a well-regarded executive who has been in charge of Citi's U.S. private bank since 1995. A bank spokeswoman said Mr. Burnside would stay in his current role for a transition period before being reassigned.

An engineer by training, Mr. Scaturro was most recently managing director and deputy chairman for private banking in the Americas at Bankers Trust Private Banking, a unit of Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank AG.

Several top executives have left the former Bankers Trust since its acquisition by Deutsche Bank in June.

Paul Higgins, the managing director overseeing Deutsche Bank's U.S. trust and investment group, has assumed Mr. Scaturro's duties on an interim basis, a spokeswoman said. Mr. Higgins reports to Ken Tarr, Deutsche's chairman of private banking for the Americas.

Mr. Scaturro's move comes almost two months after Citi's private banking, asset management, and pension fund services were consolidated into a single global investment management and private banking group led by Thomas W. Jones.

The merging of those three units was meant to improve coordination of sales and product development efforts between Citibank and Salomon Smith Barney, analysts said.

"Peter is joining us as part of an expanded commitment on our part to continue building" the private bank, Mr. Aziz said.

Consultants said Citigroup has been successful with its private bank, particularly overseas, but that it still has not tapped the enormous cross-selling potential created by last year's merger of Citicorp and Travelers Group.

"They have been more aggressive than most banks in going after private banking business," said David Palmer, a consultant at David Ross Palmer Consultants International in East Falmouth, Mass. But they could be doing better, he added.

Mr. Palmer estimated that Citigroup could boost annual revenues in its private bank by "several billion" through more coordinated cross-selling.

Citigroup said revenues in its private bank totaled $600 million through the first half of this year.

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