Citi PE banking veteran moves back to Asia

Chris Laskowski has been appointed Asia head of Citi’s financial entrepreneurs group, the private equity banking arm of Citi, to assume the same role he held at the bank until December 2008, when he moved to Citi’s Chicago office.

Laskowski has also been appointed chief operating officer for global banking Asia Pacific and will be based in Hong Kong, Citi said in a statement.

Laskowski is a 10-year veteran of Asia’s private equity markets, having founded Citi’s Asia financial sponsor franchise, the bank said. He left Citibank in Hong Kong in 2008 for the bank’s Chicago office where he was a managing director and led financial sponsor coverage in the Mid-west.  

When Laskowski moved from Hong Kong to Chicago, he was succeeded in his role as Citi’s head of private equity banking in Asia by Chris Gammons. Gammons subsequently left the bank and assumed the role of head of the financial sponsors group, Asia-Pacific at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in March 2010.

As COO, Laskowski will take a leadership position to ensure Citi’s growth prospects in the region. Following the appointment, he will also be a member of the Asia Pacific Banking Management Committee. Laskowski will report to Farhan Faruqui and Brad Coleman, both heads of Citi's financial entrepreneurs Group.

Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a range of financial products and services including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management. It has interests in more than 140 countries.