Finance
How Citigroup’s Firing of Asia Equity Sales Traders Is Haunting the Bank Years Later
- Bank dismantled a high-touch equities sales desk after probes
- Ex-staffers in different cities filed wrongful dismissal suits
This article is for subscribers only.
On a Friday afternoon in March 2019, eight Citigroup equity sales traders in Hong Kong found themselves locked out of their computers without warning. Shortly after, they were ushered into separate meeting rooms and told they were being fired for misconduct.
Letters handed to each of them by Richard Heyes, Citigroup’s then head of equities for the Asia Pacific, said they had misled clients about certain stock positions. The traders were then escorted out of Citibank Tower without the chance to clear their desks, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified sharing private information.