Citicorp has snared a Putnam Investments executive to run its sprawling global asset management unit.
Peter Carman, Putnam's chief of equity investments, was named chairman and chief investment officer of Citibank Global Asset Management, the bank announced Friday.
Mr. Carman, 56, succeeds Neville Bowen, who will retire as planned at the end of June. He will report to Paul J. Collins, a Citicorp vice chairman.
Citicorp manages close to $120 billion in customer assets and operates 21 investment centers worldwide.
In a press release, Citicorp chairman John S. Reed said Mr. Carman's hiring represents the company's plan "to build an absolutely first-class investment management competence completely within the company."
Mr. Reed had earlier said Citicorp was interested in buying such expertise through the acquisition of an investment management firm; his comments appeared to signal a shift in direction.
With the appointment, Citicorp joins a string of large banks that have reached into the investments industry for top talent.
First Union Corp., for instance, hired Donald J. McMullen, president of mutual fund company American Capital Management and Research Inc., in 1995 to direct its asset management businesses. And Wells Fargo & Co. hired Dennis J. Mooradian from Lehman Brothers in 1996 to head its securities arm.
Mr. Carman worked at Boston-based Putnam, where he was a senior managing director, since 1993. Earlier, he was chief investment officer at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.
With Mr. Carman's departure, Putnam consolidated domestic and international equity groups under senior managing director Tim Ferguson, its head of international equity.
