Citi hires senior JPMorgan bankers to strengthen financing business

July 16 (Reuters) - Citigroup C.N has hired two senior executives from JPMorgan JPM.N to strengthen its leadership team and expand its financing business, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

Aloke Gupte, previously co-head of international equity capital markets (ECM) at JPMorgan, will join Citi as global co-head of ECM alongside Doug Adams.

Alex Watkins, who held the same role as Gupte at JPMorgan, will take over as head of technology financing.

The appointments are part of Citi's broader strategy to grow its investment banking division, following the recruitment of Viswas Raghavan from JPMorgan as head of banking in February last year.

JPMorgan has also been strengthening its ranks, recently hiring Anthony Diamandakis from Citi as vice chair of its strategic investors group, and former HSBC dealmaker Kamal Jabre as vice chair of mergers & acquisitions for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Bloomberg was the first to report the news.