Citigroup Inc. has hired Dominic Hirons, the ex-operational head of EMEA and Asia at Morgan Stanly, as its chief compliance officer for the EMEA region.

Hirons will make Citi’s London office his base and will oversee the bank’s compliance needs across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. This appointment came at a time when large banks are cutting their costs on compliance by downsizing staff and promoting automation.

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Hirons brings around 25 years of experience to the bank and spent almost last 11 years of his career at Morgan Stanley. There he headed the bank’s compliance team for the Asia Pacific region for more than three years, before moving to the position of the head of compliance covering EMEA and Asia. He joined the bank as its chief operating officer of the Asian business in 2008 and continued in the role for more than two years.

Prior to Morgan Stanley, he held the position of investment banking compliance director at two banks – Bank of America and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein – for two years and four years respectively.

By education, Hirons is a linguist. However, he started his career in the financial sector joining Rothschild & Co in 1994 and later moved to the Financial Services Authority to the role of supervision associate.

Bad Businesses

Last month, Finance Magnates reported that Citi is reshuffling its prime brokerage business after losing an estimation of $180 million in due to high-risk foreign exchange (FX) bets.

By the end of 2018, Citi received a massive blow as the bank along with JP Morgan Chase settled a case of manipulating the European Interbank Offered Rate (Euribor), an interest rate benchmark, by paying a combined total of $182.5 million.