Citi Expands Leveraged Finance Team With New Hires
The firm continues to recruit senior leadership to capture growth in its leveraged finance division.
Updated on Oct. 26, 2026 in Corporate Finance
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Citi expanded its leveraged finance team in October 2026 by hiring Ilir Hasi as a managing director. This appointment follows recent recruitment activity at the bank aimed at strengthening its financial sponsors and leveraged finance capabilities.
Why it matters
The firm is scaling its senior headcount to capture growth in leveraged finance revenue, a segment that has outperformed broader investment banking pay benchmarks in recent periods.
Leveraged finance managing directors earned an average of $1.6 million in 2025, compared to $1.1 million for investment banking peers. The firm reported leveraged finance revenue growth during the third quarter of 2026.
The players
Citi
A global financial services corporation that provides investment banking, consumer banking, and corporate lending services.
Ilir Hasi
A finance executive with over seven years of tenure at Deutsche Bank before moving to a leadership role in leveraged finance.
Deutsche Bank
A multinational investment bank and financial services company that serves as a primary talent source for competitor hiring.
Antonio Iannella
A managing director hired to focus on the firm's financial sponsors team strategy.
Ludovic Ingelaere
A leveraged finance managing director who transitioned from a similar role at a competing international bank.
The details
Citi is actively recruiting senior talent from competitors to bolster its financial sponsors division. By adding leadership like Ilir Hasi and Antonio Iannella, the firm intends to increase its capacity to originate and manage complex leveraged transactions. These hires build on an established pipeline of talent moves from Deutsche Bank that have occurred over the last four years.
Timeline
2022: Jenner Kizer joined Citi from Deutsche Bank.
2024: Ilir Hasi was promoted to managing director at Deutsche Bank.
July 2025: Ludovic Ingelaere joined Citi from Deutsche Bank.
October 2026: Ilir Hasi joined Citi as a managing director.
Market Landscape
This move continues a multi-year trend of talent migration where Citi has consistently recruited senior leveraged finance leadership from Deutsche Bank. The strategy aligns with recent revenue growth observed within the firm's leveraged finance business segment.
Operators in the finance sector should watch for aggressive hiring of senior talent as a signal of internal growth priorities. Benchmarking your own compensation structures against the $1.6 million average for leveraged finance leads may be necessary to remain competitive for similar expertise.
The takeaway
Investment banks are prioritizing senior-level expertise to capture outsized returns in the leveraged finance market. Firms should track competitor talent acquisition patterns as an indicator of which business lines are expected to drive top-line growth in the coming fiscal year.
Further reading
For broader trends in sector hiring, explore our Corporate Finance analysis.
Source note: This article includes information reported by EFinancialCareers.
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