Citi promotes internally for head of banking

Mr Chowdhury has replaced David Zammit, who recently departed from the role to join major brokerage Mortgage Choice as its general manager of distribution.

Mr Chowdhury will lead the sales and distribution division within Citi Australia’s retail banking and wealth management business in the role. This includes the bank’s high net worth relationship banking unit, mortgage distribution and specialist teams.

Commenting on the appointment, Kate Luft, head of retail banking at Citi Australia, said: “We are thrilled to appoint Gofran to this role. His breadth of experience across different facets of the business is a strong asset that will be instrumental in driving a strategic approach to growth.”

Mr Chowdhury has worked at Citi Australia in wealth management for over 10 years. During this time, he has held a range of roles, beginning as a relationship manager and continuing to become head of wealth management advice.

Most recently, he held the role of head of investment specialists, managing the investment insights provided to Citi Australia’s wealth management clients.

Speaking about his new role, Mr Chowdhury said: “It’s an exciting time to take on this role, as Citi is poised for growth across its wealth management and mortgage business.”

“In these challenging times, I will ensure our clients are supported as they navigate the pandemic and have market-leading access to competitive products and insight.”

Ms Luft said the announcement of Mr Chowdhury’s appointment followed a successful first half of the year for Citi Australia’s wealth management business despite the challenges presented by the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’ve had a record year in bonds and FX. If we compare Q1 2020 with Q1 2019, we’ve seen a 44 per cent increase in bond trading volume and a 67 per cent increase in FX trading volumes,” Ms Luft said.

“Our clients are globally minded investors and have looked to take advantage of Citi’s insights and access to solutions unique to the Australian wealth landscape during this volatile period.

“Gofran’s appointment reflects his contribution to this growth story and positions Citi strongly as we continue to drive growth in our investments business.”

Citi Australia has increased its head count of relationship managers within its wealth management business with 14 new appointments within the last 12 months.

The bank is currently in the process of recruiting a replacement for Mr Chowdhury for his previous role of head of investment specialists.

[Related: Citi adds new layer of scrutiny to loan applications]

Malavika Santhebennur is the features editor on the mortgages titles at Momentum Media.

Before joining the team in 2019, Malavika held roles with Money Management and Benchmark Media. She has been writing about financial services for the past six years.