Citi’s Naveed Sultan To Lead Bank’s Global Digitization Charge

Veteran Citi executive Naveed Sultan will lead the financial giant’s efforts to advise governments and other clients on digitization in a new role as chairman of its Institutional Clients Group, the bank announced in an internal memo on Thursday (Oct. 29).

Sultan will be in charge of building a new “digital policy, strategy and advisory practice” that will consult with governments interested in digitizing their economies and financial systems, among other duties, the memo states.

The growing global digital economy is an area in which Sultan is well-versed, having “led several pioneering initiatives, including Digital Money Index and the Centre for Global Finance and Technology with Imperial College,” Citi ICG Chief Executive Officer Paco Ybarra said in the memo.

Sultan has served for the last nine years as global head of Citi’s Treasury and Trade Solutions, or TTS, which he will continue to run until a replacement is found.

In explaining Sultan’s new role as the bank’s top executive in advising foreign governments and other clients on digitization, Ybarra said it is “critical” that Citi “develops a strategic, coherent and holistic approach” in the emerging sector.

Sultan’s job will be to “advise our clients and other constituencies, including policymakers, and provide them [with] actionable insights to respond to this phenomenon,” Ybarra wrote.

“This new practice will advise governments to develop policies to digitize their economies, including their financial systems,” Ybarra stated. “It will also provide guidance and thought leadership to corporates and financial institutions to transform their businesses and operating models to stay relevant in an increasingly digital world.”

Sultan also won praise for his work overseeing Citi’s Treasury and Trade Solutions, with TTS, under Sultan’s “stewardship,” having “grown into a world-class franchise as recognized by our clients, investors and financial services industry for its innovation, sustained financial performance and thought leadership,” according to Ybarra.

In his new post at Citi’s ICG, Sultan also takes a leading role in helping the bank in its “senior interactions with sovereigns,” with a focus on emerging markets as the bank looks to strengthen relationships and “create commercial opportunities,” the memo states.