Citi looks for new manager in Delta One unit -sources

(This May 10 story has been recast to clarify Omari’s departure was unrelated to the flash crash, and corrects headline)

By Sinead Cruise

LONDON (Reuters) – Citigroup is looking for a new senior manager within its Delta One operations, a trading unit that sells financial products to sophisticated investors, according to three people familiar with the matter and a job advertisement posted by the bank last week.

So-called Delta One desks target investors such as pension funds, hedge funds and blue chip corporate clients.

Citi is looking to name a new Head of Forward Trading based at its European headquarters in London, a job vacancy posted on professional networking site LinkedIn shows.

The search follows the departure of Ali Omari, who was EMEA Head of Delta One Forwards and Sectors, one of the Delta One units, according to Omari and two sources familiar with the matter.

Citi’s broader Delta One operations have been linked to a trading blunder that led to a market flash crash on May 2, the two sources said. But Omari was not involved in the event and his departure was unrelated, according to Omari and the two sources. Omari told Reuters on Tuesday that he was not at work for three weeks prior to the May 2 flash crash, and only returned to the office on May 3 to tender his resignation from the bank before taking up another opportunity.

Reuters was unable to independently verify who was responsible for the flash crash and has no evidence to suggest that Omari played any role in the trading error that caused that event.

A spokesperson for Citi declined to comment on the timing of the hiring plans in its Delta One operations beyond confirming the vacancy.

Two of the sources familiar with the matter said the bank’s Delta One trading activities were connected to, although not responsible for, the data input blunder that caused the pan-European STOXX 600 equity benchmark to fall by more than 2 percentage points in around two minutes of trading.

Citi has previously confirmed that one of its employees was behind the error that led to the market fall, but has not given details on which teams played a role. A spokesperson for Citi declined to comment on this again on Wednesday.

Citi has said it is pursuing a revamp of its risk management and controls systems. It is still subject to at least two consent orders by U.S. regulators related to its internal controls after the United States’ Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) lifted a 10-year-old order in late April.

(Additional reporting by David Henry in New York; Editing by Elisa Martinuzzi and Alexander Smith)