Demirel's mission: making Citi more than just a conduit for offshore assets. Earlier this week Citigroup put former UBS executive Michael Demirel in charge of its Swiss private-banking operations. His mission is to expand Citi's wealth-management footprint in the country by bringing in domestic rather just off-shore business.

Demirel joined Citi in January 2006. He replaces Veit Schuhen, who left Citi in June 2006 to head specialized fund services and European business development for FinSource, a Cape Town, South Africa-based fund administrator owned by the Maitland Group.

Context

Naturally enough, Switzerland is already Citi's principal "booking center" for foreign clients holding their money in Switzerland. But Swiss offshore business has shrunk in recent years, due mainly to successful efforts over the last decade or so by European Union countries to encourage the repatriation of high-net-worth assets.

This is why big Swiss banks like UBS and Credit Suisse have been expanding aggressively in non-Swiss markets, and it's why the Swiss wealth-management business is consolidating -- witness Julius Baer's acquisition last year of three local private banks and alternatives manager GAM from UBS.

With those developments in mind, Citi wants to pull in domestic Swiss clients, Demirel tells Reuters. So it's targeting Swiss business owners and family offices.

Citigroup is the world's second-largest wealth manager with $1.31 trillion in assets under management, according to Scorpio Partnership's 2006 Private Banking Benchmark study. UBS ranks highest with $1.32 trillion in assets under management. -FWR

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