Bert Pijls has been appointed Country Business Manager for Citi UK Consumer, the bank behind the Citi and Egg consumer brands, with immediate effect.
Pijls replaces Ian Kerr, who has resigned and will leave Citi after working with Pijls to ensure a smooth transition.
Pijls, who has worked at Egg in the past, will move to London on Monday 17 March 2008 from the Czech Republic where, as Citi's Country Business Manager, he turned the consumer franchise around with high double-digit year-on-year growth in revenues as he built the cards, investments and loans portfolios.
EMEA Consumer CEO, George Awad said Pijls would continue the strategy to develop Citi's UK Consumer operations: "We are very focused on allocating capital to the best opportunities we see for growth for our business, and the UK is a key market for Citi."
"We are committed to making UK Consumer a top UK bank and we are achieving this by building on the best of Egg's and Citi's talent, business models and cultures to ensure a differentiated financial services proposition for consumers and a great workplace for our colleagues," Awad said.
Pijls began his career with Citi in 1990, as a Management Associate in Finance. He worked as a branch manager and an Area Sales and Distribution Manager in Germany, before moving to New York as a marketing director for Citi's Global Consumer Group. He then spent three years at Egg between 2001 and 2003, where most notably he was responsible for Banking Products. Bert rejoined Citi in 2005, from American Express UK, where he was responsible for re-starting the Amex lending business across 22 international markets.
Pijls said creating a growth business for Citi was an exciting prospect: "A developing business is an exciting place to work, and the Citi and Egg brands will be great places to bank. We are building a business that will have the products and services to ensure we are first choice for consumers as they look to meet their financial needs."
Awad said that whilst he was disappointed to lose Ian Kerr, he fully respected his decision: "Ian has played a critical role in helping us to integrate the Egg business into Citi and he has also developed our strategy for a single unified business in the UK. Ian has established a very mature and experienced team to execute this strategy, helping us to build a new force in retail banking in the UK. I thank Ian and wish him well in his future endeavours."