Citigroup hires Don Plaus from BofA to lead private bank in North America

By Tatiana Bautzer

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Citigroup hired former Merrill Lynch executive Don Plaus as the head of its private bank in North America, according to a memo to staff seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

Plaus will start on April 1 and report to Ida Liu, Citi's global head of private banking, she wrote in the memo. He will replace Hale Behzadi, who is retiring at the end of the month after 22 years at Citi.

Plaus spent more than three decades at Bank of America's Merrill wealth and private banking businesses before retiring last year.

Citi also hired Antonio Gonzales from JPMorgan Chase to lead its private bank in Latin America, Liu announced last week.

Gonzales spent 18 years at JPMorgan in private banking, investments and asset management. He will start at the end of May. The bank also recently elevated Frederic Viaud as the new head of its France business.

The leadership changes come after Citi's CEO Jane Fraser tapped Andy Sieg to run the wealth division from Bank of America last year. Fraser has said that wealth management is a key growth area.

Citi is in the midst of its biggest overhaul in decades. The third largest U.S. lender is simplifying its structure and planning to reduce its workforce by 20,000 people in the next two years.

(Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer, editing by Lananh Nguyen and Nick Zieminski)