Citibank has hired two nonbankers to manage key areas of its global cash management and trade finance business unit.
Dave Cureton, who was in charge of finance in British Petroleum PLC's corporate treasury department, was named managing director of innovation, a new position at the New York bank subsidiary of Citigroup Inc.
James O. Treyz, formerly of Xerox Corp., was named managing director of sales, also a new position. His job is to oversee the bank's global cash management and trade sales force.
Citibank provides corporate banking services to 32,000 customers globally.
Jorge A. Bermudez, executive vice president and head of the global cash and trade business, said the hiring of Mr. Cureton and Mr. Treyz in no way should be seen as undermining the role of traditional bankers.
"We were looking for skill sets that we felt were better served by people who had different experiences than what traditional bankers might bring," he said.
One observer, who did not want to be identified, said it seems as though Citibank is trying to give itself an infusion of new ideas and that the move reflects a "dearth of thought leadership in the banking industry."
"Hiring from its competition probably didn't seem all that appealing," the source said. "A lot of good people have fled the industry because of other opportunities."
Citibank has a history of hiring from outside of banking. One of the more notable senior-level examples was the 1997 addition of Edward D. Horowitz, who came from the media conglomerate Viacom Inc. and now heads the e-Citi advanced development unit.
Mr. Treyz headed sales, marketing, and customer service at Xerox. He was part of a group there that won the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 1997. He will be in charge of 250 Citibank sales executives.
Mr. Bermudez said Mr. Cureton brings a corporate customer's point of view to his job, which is essentially to determine corporations' long-term banking and technology needs.
Mr. Cureton has direct oversight of five Citibank officials and will work closely with Mr. Horowitz's e-Citi group on product development.
