Citi has picked up yet another Deutsche Bank MD. In LevFin, this time
Some of the most iconic combinations in history need no introduction. Laurel and Hardy in America, Fry and Laurie in the UK. Enemies to lovers on Ao3. In finance, it seems to increasingly be “joined Citi” and “left Deutsche Bank”.
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Ilir Hasi joined Citi in New York this month as a managing director (MD) in its Leveraged Finance (LevFin) team. He joined Citi from Deutsche Bank in the city, where he spent seven and a half years, and was made an MD in 2024. Hasi was at BMO Capital Markets before that. Citi did not respond to a request for comment.
LevFin has seen better days. US Treasury yields hit multi-decade highs in September, and equity and debt issuance slowed late in the third quarter. In July, asset management firm PIMCO warned that distress is likely to rise in leveraged loans, even if the economy holds up, blaming the private credit fundraising boom (and the subsequent struggles of software companies in the AI world. High yield has suffered in particular.
Nonetheless, Citi has stacked up on LevFin talent, including from Deutsche Bank – Ludovic Ingelaere joined Citi from Deutsche in Paris as an MD in its LevFin team in July last year. It also hired Jenner Kizer from Deutsche back in 2022. Citi has hired a lot of people from Deutsche Bank in general, recently - Citi's banking head, Vis Raghavan, said back in 2024 about wanting to invest in the bank's financial sponsors team. Expanding his bank's LevFin abilities is part of that. The firm has hired sponsors bankers substantially, including recently - Antonio Iannella joined the firm as a sponsors MD in Milan earlier this month, for example.
LevFin can pay very well when the times are good. A compensation report from earlier this year from Prospect Rock Partners found that LevFin MDs earned $1.6m on average for their work in 2025, much higher than the rest of their investment banking peers, who earned an average of $1.1m in the same period. 2026 might be even better; Citi’s Q3 results a few weeks ago noted that a decline in debt capital markets revenue was “primarily” offset by a growth in leveraged finance revenue.
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