Citi seeks several thousand clients with $100,000 fortunes

US Citibank expects to come to manage fortunes of at least 100,000 dollars for several thousand clients of Romania in two years at most, states Grant Carson, head of the International Personal Bank unit of the US giant, in charge with operations on 40 markets of the EMEA region. "(...) On some of these markets, we have as many as 2,000 clients working with us and we believe Romania can reach a similar level in the next 18-24 months," Carson says. According to Citi-commissioned surveys, in Romania there are around 150,000 people with fortunes of above 100,000 euros. Poland remains the biggest market in the region for Citi, but the banker maintains Romania can grow in parallel with the Czech Republic or Hungary. Citi's product offer is the same for all these markets. "We're talking about a diversification of the offer in Romania, with clients due to have access to a local relationship manager, a speaker of Romanian, and to an extensive range of international investment products," Carson says. He says Citi's main argument in attracting clients is the global offer of investment alternatives.