Robinson to be Citi CEO for South Asia

Citi today said that Mark Robinson will replace Sanjay Nayar as the Chief Executive Officer for South Asia.

Nayar is expected to take up his new assignment as the CEO and country head of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) in India towards the end of January.

Robinson, who has spent 24 years at Citi, is at present President of Citibank ZAO, Citi Country Officer for Russia and Division Head for Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Earlier he has worked in Turkey,Israel, Hungary, Pakistan, Hong Kong and the United States.

Nayar will set up KKR’s office in Mumbai. KKR, the 32-year-old firm had an asset base of $53.2 billion at the end of December 2007, with $42 billion in private equity. It has received capital and capital commitments worth around $60 billion since inception.

“India is now a core part of our growing global private equity and investment platform. We believe India’s compelling demographics, dynamic economy and culture of entrepreneurship will provide superior long-term investment opportunities,” Henry R Kravis and George R Roberts, Founding Partners of KKR said in a statement.

Robinson comes in at a time when Citi has lost some senior members from its India team such as the head of retail business TR Ramachandran, who joined Aviva Life Insurance as its chief executive.

The financial services major is also in the midst of restructuring one of its non-banking finance companies Citi Financial which is facing an increase in sticky assets. India along with Brazil and Mexico accounted for a 74 per cent rise in net credit loss ratio for during the third quarter. India accounted for 5.78 per cent of Citi’s net credit loss at the end of the September quarter.