LONDON, Nov 20 (Reuters) -
Nacho Gutiérrez-Orrantia, one of Citi's 's most senior bankers in Europe, will become the bank's head of banking in Europe as part of its planned restructuring, people familiar with the situation said.
The latest step in the bank's reorganisation will be announced later on Monday, the people said. It is also expected to include job cuts and senior management changes that may affect thousands of staff, Reuters reported on Monday.
In his new role of head of the Europe cluster, the Spanish banker will look after Citi´s businesses in the region.
Prior to the restructuring, Europe was part of its EMEA business unit, the second-largest region on a revenue basis, according to Citi's 2022 annual report.
Gutiérrez-Orrantia was appointed in 2021 as its co-Head of Banking, Capital Markets and Advisory (BCMA) for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and has spent 19 years at the bank.
Since late 2022, the Bilbao native ran the BCMA business in EMEA alongside with Jens Welter, who joined the US bank from Credit Suisse last year.
The appointment of Gutiérrez-Orrantia is part of the biggest reshuffle of the US bank in decades, aimed at giving CEO Jane Fraser more direct control of the bank as she seeks to simplify the lender and boost its stock price.
Last month, Citi announced plans to cut management layers from 13 to eight. In the two top layers of leadership, Citi reduced 15% of functional roles and eliminated 60 committees, it said in its third-quarter earnings presentation.
The restructuring includes splitting the business in two regions, US and International.
Within the international unit, head by Ernesto Torres, Citi's operations will be led by so-called cluster chiefs, looking after the different regions: Europe, UK, Latin America, Middle East & Africa, Asia South, Asia North & Australia and Japan.
The US bank recently appointed former Deutsche Bank UK deputy CEO Tiina Lee as UK Citi Country Officer (CCO) and UK cluster and banking head. (Reporting by Andres Gonzalez; additional reporting by Pablo Mayo Cerquerio. Editing by Anousha Sakoui and Louise Heavens)