US-headquartered bank Citi has appointed Jessica Rowe as its director, spread products syndication, Australia and Asia-Pacific, and Dane Harris as its vice-president in the Australian dollar debt syndicate team. 

These new hires, the lender emphasizes, underline Citi's commitment to investing further in local market capabilities to support both local and global clients with their financing needs.

Jessica Rowe joins Citi after 10 years at NAB, where she has a long track record of syndicating securitized products in both the UK and Australian markets. Most recently, Jessica spent the last four years running the syndication desk in London, connecting Australian issuers with the integral UK and EU investor base. Jessica was based in Sydney prior.

In her new role, Rowe joins the spread products syndication team and will be responsible for the execution of primary securitization transactions across residential mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securitization ( ABS ) and commercial mortgage-backed securities and commercial real estate in Australia and Asia-Pacific. Rowe will be working closely with internal structuring and originations teams, sales and trading to further the growth of Citi’s financing and securitization franchise in the region.

Dane Harris brings over 15 years’ experience working at UBS and Deutsche Bank in their debt syndicate teams in London. Harris joins Citi from Commonwealth Bank of Australia, where he led product development for the fixed income division.

Harris will lead the effort for Australian dollar unsecured bond syndication, pricing and distribution for both domestic and Kangaroo issuers. He will work closely with partners in debt capital markets and leverage finance, markets sales and trading and risk in delivering Citi’s Australian dollar debt underwriting capabilities to investors and issuers alike.

“These two appointments demonstrate our commitment to leading in the Australian dollar corporate credit, rates and ABS-securitized products space,” says Cristina Chang, Citi Australia and New Zealand head of markets. “Australia has the third-largest corporate bond market of all G10 currencies, following the US dollar and euro. Citi is building out our team to ensure we have unmatched capabilities in this growing space.”

David Bailey, Citi Australia and New Zealand’s head of debt capital markets, adds: “There has been significant growth in the Australian dollar primary market over the last five years. Both these appointments allow Citi to help our domestic and global issuers and investors in accessing Australian dollar debt markets and liquidity.”