Citi has appointed Saiid Ghobadian as EMEA head of its collateral management solution OpenCollateral to strengthen its capabilities in the area amidst evolving regulatory pressures and the growth in OTC derivatives.
Ghobadian brings over 15 years of experience in financial services and technology and expertise in developing solutions to improve collateral efficiency. He joins from JP Morgan where he was in charge of product development for Securities Collateral Management in EMEA.
In his new role Ghobadian will be based in London and report to Fergus Pery, global head of OpenCollateral. He is responsible for product development, strategy and sales.
Commenting on this appointment, Timothy Douglas, global head of Investment and Financing Solutions, said: “We are pleased to welcome Saiid to the team. His appointment demonstrates our commitment to strengthening our collateral management offering and will be key to support the rapid expansion of our client base in EMEA.”
OpenCollateral acts as a trusted agent, interacting with clients counterparties to deliver comprehensive and customizable solutions designed to help clients mitigate risk and improve return on assets.
Citi has been increasing its efforts in collateral management since launching a services unit in May 2010. It appointed Rajen Shah, previously head of custody at J.P. Morgan, to lead the unit and won a mandate from the European Investment Bank (EIB) that was previously jointly held by RBS (on the derivatives collateral side) and BNY Mellon (custody).
(JDC)