MOVES-Citi moves Asia prime brokerage sales head to London

LONDON, July 18 (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C - news) is moving its Asia Pacific head of prime brokerage sales and capital introduction, Martin Visairas, to London, according to a memo seen by Reuters.

Visairas, who had joined Citigroup in Hong Kong from financial conglomerate Old Mutual (Other OTC: ODMTY - news) in late 2010, will take a senior role in the bank's European capital introduction team.

A Citigroup spokesman in London confirmed the contents of the memo.

Prime brokers provide services such as clearing trades and lending money to hedge funds. Capital (Other OTC: CGHC - news) introduction teams of prime brokers link hedge funds to potential investors.

Visairas is one of many senior prime brokerage executives who have recently left Asia to focus on bigger hedge fund markets such as Europe and the United States of America.

Earlier this year, Deutsche Bank (Berlin: DBK.BE - news) moved its head of prime finance distribution for Asia Pacific, Harvey Twomey, to London. Jason Berry, who was part of Goldman Sachs Group (Frankfurt: GOS.F - news) 's hedge fund consulting team, also moved to the city this year to join Bank of America Corp.

In Asia, Carl Davey will take over as the head of alternatives sales from Visairas, while Rob Baigrie will be the new head of capital introduction and business advisory, according to the memo. (Reporting by Nishant Kumar; Editing by Clare Hutchison)