Citi Promotes Davies to Head of Global Mortgages

Jane Fraser, the CEO of CitiMortgage and head of Citigroup's U.S. consumer and commercial banking units, is handing responsibility for day-to-day global mortgage operations to her current mortgage lieutenant, CD Davies.

Davies, a former of head of mortgages at Wachovia Corp. and Capital One, was hired by Citi in March 2014 to head its U.S. mortgage operations. He will now oversee consumer mortgage lending in the U.S. and in 13 countries globally, and will continue to report to Fraser, Citi said Tuesday in a press release.

The move was expected given that Fraser — who was ranked No.1 on American Banker's 2014 "25 Women to Watch" list — has so much on her plate.

She had already appointed new heads to run Citi's day-to-day consumer and commercial banking units, after she was promoted to head both divisions last year. Fraser joined CitiMortgage in 2013 after heading Citi's private bank for four years. She is a former McKinsey & Co. consultant.

Shortly after Fraser's move to CitiMortgage, former Bank of America head of mortgages Barbara Desoer joined Citigroup as chief operating officer of Citibank NA in October 2013. She became CEO of Citibank in April 2014. Fraser and Desoer both serve on Citigroup's Operating Committee.

Before joining Citi, Davies was CEO of QBE First, a unit of QBE Insurance, and was head of Capital One's mortgage business. He is a former vice chairman and CEO LendingTree and a former president and CEO of Wachovia Mortgage, which was acquired by Wells Fargo in 2008.

Citi has a mortgage portfolio of $101 billion in the U.S. and $46 billion globally. It is a third-party servicer of $229 billion in mortgages.