Chief executive of the institutional clients group at Citi is set to step down in the first half of 2024 after 36 years with the bank, according to an internal memo seen by The TRADE. Described as “grace under fire,” Paco Ybarra joined Citi in 1987 as a management associate, going on to work on Citi’s trading floors in Mexico, Singapore, New York and London. He took up his role as chief executive officer of the institutional clients group in 2019 after previously serving in the bank’s markets and securities services business. The bank is now in the process of determining who will be appointed to assume Ybarra’s responsibilities when he steps down next year, with plans to announce a succession plan in the coming months.
Investment banking boutique KNG Securities appointed Gary Ballard as its new head of equities. Ballard brings over 30 years’ experience in equity sales, having previously held positions at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Baring Securities. He joined KNG from VTB Capital, where he most recently served as managing director and global head of equity sales. As part of his new role, Ballard will be focused on what the firm describes as ‘special situations’, helping clients deal in equities where liquidity may have been reduced temporarily. Ballard’s experience in equities – particularly with European and Asian institutional clients – will be important for the firm’s growth strategy.
One of BCS Global Markets’ prime services sales leads, Grigoriy Kozin, left the investment bank to join boutique merging markets broker and investment bank BancTrust. Kozin was appointed head of business development, prime services and electronic execution at BancTrust after three years in his role at BCS. Kozin joined BCS as its head of business development for prime services at BCS Global based in London in November 2020 – responsible for developing the prime brokerage and securities financing business lines and revenue streams. Before that he spent more than a decade at SOVA Capital, previously Otkritie, most recently serving as director of prime services. Kozin’s areas of expertise include high and low touch execution, securities financing, and market and credit risk assessment. He also has experience working across a range of asset classes – equities, commodities, FX spot, listed derivatives, and ETFs.