JPMorgan's latest big Citi hire might be joined by others after bonuses
As Financial News reported yesterday, JPMorgan has begun 2026 with another major hire from Citi. Suneel Hargunani, who was Citi's co-head of EMEA equity capital markets (ECM) between 2019 and 2025, is joining JPMorgan as head of EMEA syndicate.
It's an interesting move in light of last year's many changes at both JPMorgan and Citi. Vis Raghavan, himself once an ECM banker at JPMorgan in London, has been running the entirety of Citi's investment bank globally since mid-2024. In doing so, he's hired many of his former JPMorgan ECM colleagues to Citi (Achtinya Mangla, Aloke Gupta) and edged out some Citi incumbents, Hargunani among them.
In his new role at JPMorgan, Hargunani therefore has a chance of going head-to-head with his nemesis and with the ex-JPMorgan team assembled by Raghavan at Citi. He's not the only ex-Citi banker doing so: Anthony Diamandakis, a former top Citi financial sponsors banker, is among a host of other disaffected Citi people at JPMorgan now.
In his new role as head of syndicate at JPM, Hargunani is replacing Ashish Jhajharia. Jhajharia himself is a former syndicate banker who joined JPMorgan as co-head of EMEA ECM syndicate from Deutsche Bank in June 2021. He was appointed as head of EMEA ECM in 2025. Hargunani has therefore been placed in Jhajharia's old role, and JPMorgan has appointed someone internally to the big job. Citi may want to take note.
It's not clear whether other Citi ECM bankers will follow Hargunani. He seems to have been popular at Citi and his arrival could prompt others to follow.
Citi bankers are waiting with some trepidation to discover their bonuses, which are expected to be announced around Tuesday next week. There are fears that long-serving Citi staff might be shortchanged (not least because they have high salaries). If so, JPMorgan will find it easier to pick them off in the months to come.
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