Citigroup adds metals trader in Asia

US bank Citigroup has continued to expand its Asia-Pacific commodities team with the hire of Russell Wheeler, who joins the metals trading team in Singapore, with joint responsibility for risk management in Asia.

Wheeler arrives from ANZ Bank in Melbourne and has been trading metals for 18 years in London, Hong Kong and Australia, where he spent the past 11 years.

He reports to Ananth Doraswamy, head of Citi’s Asia-Pacific commodities team, who said Wheeler will be the last commodities hire in Singapore in 2006. The division now numbers 10, up from a low point of three following the departure of most of the team to Merrill Lynch in April 2005.