Citi Private Bank has added Gil Ahrens to its Palo Alto, CA, office as director and ultra high net worth private banker, as it expands its business in Northern California.  

Ahrens will report to Lisa Roberts, Northern California region executive. He joins from JP Morgan in Palo Alto where he was most recently a director in the firm's private wealth management group, working with venture capital and investment banking clients. Prior to his wealth management role at JP Morgan, he worked at the firm as managing director and head of venture coverage, having joined in 2007.

In other significant moves, last week Citi's North American Asian clients group expanded into New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, in an attempt to capture additional market share from what it believes is one of the world’s fastest-growing UHNW segments.

The group is led by Ida Liu, managing director and head of the North America Asian clients unit, and has been bulking out its workforce across these markets over the past year. The appointees were: Jane Bachmann, director and UHNW private banker, based in San Francisco, CA; August Denise, vice president and UHNW private banker, based in Beverly Hills, CA; and Diana Ding, vice president and associate banker in New York.

The same week, the firm brought in Oscar Salem as a director and foreign exchange investment specialist, based in New York. In late September it appointed Ary Velasco as a director and UHNW private banker at its office in Miami, FL.