(Reuters) – A team of bankers focused on healthcare at Citigroup has left for rival Jefferies Financial after the firm’s executives mulled closing the municipal banking department altogether, Bloomberg News reported on Monday.
The group of about 10 bankers departing for Jefferies included managing directors Brian Carlstead, Ben Klemz and Katherine Meyers, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Citi declined to comment to a Reuters request. CEO Jane Fraser has been weighing whether to shutter the bank’s municipal-bond trading and origination business.
Citi’s municipal offering business has been under scrutiny from Texas attorney general, who in January halted the bank’s ability to underwrite most municipal bond offerings in Texas, saying Citi has discriminated against the firearms sector.
(Reporting by Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru)