According to Zhītōng Cáijīng APP, Ignacio Gutierrez-Orrantia, the new head of Citigroup's European operations, said in an interview that despite the political instability on the European continent causing investors to feel uneasy, Citigroup is still seeking to expand its business in Europe.
According to Refinitiv data, the US bank underwent its most significant restructuring in decades last year, and now ranks fourth on the EMEA mergers and acquisitions list and sixth on the Equity Capital Markets (ECM) list.
Gutierrez-Orrantia said, "Our goal is to be number one, whether that takes three, four, or five years. We are committed to reaching the peak."
However, he noted that "due to market volatility and lack of visibility, investors are skeptical" about the upcoming elections in the UK and France.
Italian luxury sportswear brand Golden Goose postponed plans to go public in Milan on Tuesday, blaming the serious deterioration of the market conditions after this month's European parliamentary elections and the French presidential election.
Gutierrez-Orrantia said, "From a business perspective, this is also an opportunity for us to sit down with clients and provide advice on how to deal more effectively with this instability."
"With all of this political uncertainty happening in Europe, opportunities may arise," he added.
On Thursday, Ignacio Gutierrez-Orrantia, Citibank's head of European and European banking operations, also became the bank's CEO in Europe.
He will be responsible for the bank's operations in Europe - banking, markets, services and wealth - as well as relations with European regulators.
After cutting thousands of jobs globally, Citigroup is grappling with an unstable workforce, and the company is intensifying efforts to address regulatory issues in the United States in order to seek higher future profits.
The bank faces regulatory challenges related to so-called living wills, which detail how the bank will divest assets in the event of bankruptcy. The company is also dealing with fines from regulators in 2020.