Citi rescue too late for Singapore prime broking star

The jury is out on the US government's convoluted (is it or isn't it?) bailout of Citi, which one ambivalent hedge fund manager described Monday evening as appearing like ôhalf a loafö.

However, the US cavalry arrived too late to save the most visible member of its Citi's prime broking team in Singapore.

That team was headlined by Alexis Fosler who last month won AsianInvestor's Best Prime Broking Salesperson award in our hedge fund service provider awards.

Fosler had been recognised for a stellar year of bringing in business. Ex-workmates say she was awarded a $600,000 bonus for 2007, but Citi says this speculation about the exact size of her bonus is incorrect.

FoslerÆs Waterloo was that even though Citi had won a lot of new hedge fund start-up business, given hedge fund capital raising has slammed into a brick wall this summer, those hedge funds had not grown as much as had been hoped. Of the dozens of new mandates, only one evolved into a million-dollar earner.

Coupled with this revenue shortfall, sources say there was also a healthy competitiveness between Singapore-based Fosler and the Hong Kong-based directors of transitions and client service, Jacqueline Fan and Jenny Yau. Citi attributes this to pure hearsay, however.

Director Paul Weir, who was on the client side in Singapore prime broking, was forced out earlier.

Alex Knight, continues as head of FX prime broking Singapore. Danielle Vint and Jane Ong are dealing with prime brokerage client services. Citi says it is committed to its Singapore client base and is expected to make an announcement in the coming weeks to further strengthen its Singapore Prime Finance presence.