Citi hires private bank head from Bank of America

Nearly a month after the departure of its private bank head, Citi has tapped a Bank of America executive to oversee its private banking operation in North America.

Andy Sieg, head of wealth at Citi, told employees in a memo this week that Chris Biotti will take over the firm’s North America private bank. Biotti comes to Citi from Bank of America Private Bank, where he spent 13 years and was most recently in charge of its Northeast division.

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The announcement came roughly a month after the resignation of Ida Liu, the former global head of Citi’s private bank. Sieg put forward plans at the same time for a restructuring that would have the firm’s private banks run by four regional heads reporting directly to him.

Cayman Wills, a regional head, was appointed interim leader of private banking in North America. Sieg’s memo said Will remain in that position until Biotti joins the firm in late May.

Before joining Bank of America, Biotti worked in private banking at Neuberger Berman and Lehman Brothers in San Francisco. He also played professional ice hockey for a number of years.

Sieg also noted that, at Bank of America, Biotti served as the executive co-sponsor of its Massachusetts Pride LGBTQ affinity group. He now works with groups dedicated to equality for children, such as the Board of City Year, Boston, and the Boston Board of Cradles to Crayons.

Citi has been building out its wealth management ranks with a string of hires from rival firms this past year. It, for instance, has brought on Kate Moore from BlackRock to be its chief investment officer, Dawn Nordberg from Morgan Stanley to build stronger ties between its banking and wealth divisions, Keith Glenfield from Merrill to be its head of investment solutions and Marc Turansky from JPMorgan as its head of investment advisory.

The private bank is one of the three main units of Citi’s wealth business, which has been revamped under Sieg, who joined the business from Bank of America’s Merrill in 2023. Last year saw the departures of various private bankers to Bank of America as well as exits from its Wealth at Work unit, including the head of that unit, Naz Vahid, according to Bloomberg.