Citi Hires Ex-Goldman, Carlyle Execs

Citigroup (C) on late Tuesday became the latest Wall Street firm to tap the talent well at rival Goldman Sachs (GS).

Vikram Pandit, the newly installed CEO of the banking giant, has hired a pair of Goldman execs and a private-equity honcho from The Carlyle Group to join the beleaguered financial conglomerate in senior roles.

Citi announced late Tuesday that it has hired Jaime Yordan, who joins Citi Markets and Banking as vice chairman of Global Banking, Latin America. Armando Diaz will join Citi's Global Equities business as head of U.S. Institutional Trading. Both are Goldman alums. The bank also tapped Carlyle Group official Edward Kelly to grow its alternative investment unit.

"We are delighted to welcome these three well-respected, seasoned, and talented professionals to Citi," said Pandit in a company statement. "Each will play a key role as we continue to move ahead in areas with significant growth opportunities for the company."

It seems everyone these days wants a piece of Goldman, the investment bank that has, up to this point, managed to maintain its luster throughout the subprime debacle.

Merrill Lynch (MER), which has suffered through equally bad bets on soured mortgages, hired ex-NYSE Euronext (NYX) CEO and former Goldman partner John Thain to repair a mortgage and leveraged-loan bust at the world's largest brokerage firm, attributed largely to the ousted chief executive Stanley O'Neal.

Yordan established Goldman's Latin American business at Goldman in the 1990s and retired as partner in 2005 to serve as an adviser for alternative investment advisory firm CDK Group. Prior to working at Goldman, the executive worked in the international banking unit of what is now JPMorgan Chase (JPM). At Citi, he will report to Manuel Medina Mora, chairman and CEO of Citi Latin America and Mexico, and to co-heads of global banking Raymond McGuire and Alberto Verme.

Diaz spent nearly two decades at Goldman, most recently as partner managing single stock cash and derivative trading for the firm. At Citi, Diaz will help to boost cash equities, reporting to Kevin Russell, head of Americas Equities Trading.

Former Carlyle exec Kelly serve as president of Citi Alternative Investments. He will attempt to expand the bank's platform, which has about $59 billion in assets under management.

Kelly will report to John Havens, CEO of Citi's alternative division.