By Rebecca Ungarino

Citigroup has hired a well-known executive from BlackRock into the wealth management division it is working to fix after years of lagging behind rivals.

Andy Sieg, Citi's global head of wealth, told employees in a memo viewed by Barron's on Tuesday that Kate Moore, the former head of thematic strategy for BlackRock's global allocation team, would join Citi's wealth business as chief investment officer in February.

The hire is notable both because Moore is considered a top investment strategist and because employees at Citi and competitors alike are watching closely to see how Sieg fixes and recalibrates the bank's wealth unit. Since he joined a year ago he has made a series of new hires and commitments to improve technology. He is also overseeing plans to hire more than a hundred new experienced advisors.

Moore's work is well-known to investors on Wall Street and to viewers of CNBC and Bloomberg TV. She often appears in financial media to discuss big-picture issues like the stock market, interest rates, inflation, and broad themes driving markets, such as artificial intelligence.

"With her on board, we'll be in even stronger position to advise the world's changemakers," Sieg wrote on LinkedIn on Tuesday. Moore is an "industry star," he said.

Citi has made a series of hires into the wealth business since Sieg, the former head of Bank of America's Merrill Lynch business, took over about a year ago. He hired former Morgan Stanley wealth executive Dawn Nordberg and Merrill veteran Keith Glenfield. More than two dozen executives, including former longtime chief investment officer David Bailin, have left in the same time.

Citi executive Steven Wieting had been named Bailin's interim replacement earlier this year. Sieg said in the employee memo on Tuesday that Wieting would continue in his role as chief investment strategist and economist.

Moore is going to be responsible for developing investment strategies for Citi's clients and financial advisors, and will oversee the wealth arm's chief investment office, global investment committee, sustainable investing team, and a team known as the investment lab that works on analytics tied to portfolio construction and risk management.

Moore had been with BlackRock since 2016, when she joined from JPMorgan Chase's private bank. A BlackRock spokesperson said her position at BlackRock will be filled by Dez Desai, a director in the fundamental fixed income business who works closely with Rick Rieder, chief investment officer of global fixed income.

Desai's own history with BlackRock's investors goes back years. He joined BlackRock in 2009 through its acquisition of R3 Capital Partners, a hedge fund run by Rieder. Desai had also previously worked under Rieder at Lehman Brothers.

Write to Rebecca Ungarino at rebecca.ungarino@barrons.com

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November 26, 2024 16:26 ET (21:26 GMT)

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