Join us for an exclusive interview with Armanda Mago Citi’s Head of FMI Strategy and Change Management for Europe, who shares insights from over 25 years in financial services. Discover her perspective on the opportunities and challenges in European capital markets, from the transition to T+1 and digital assets to the need for greater harmonisation. Learn how her experience across front and back-office roles shapes her approach to post-trade transformation and hear about the unexpected lessons she has uncovered along the way.
Tell us a bit about yourself and your role at Citi
I am performing now, within Citibank Custody business, the role Head of FMI Strategy and Change Management for Europe, focused on the many anticipated changes in the European capital markets landscape over the next three to five years including the transition to T+1, SIU implementation, market infrastructure evolution, and digital assets adoption. Prior to my current role, I led Citi’s Custody business for Europe and the UK where I was responsible for business strategy, growth, and custody transformation across these geographies, including engagement with FMIs and key stakeholders. I joined Citi around 15 years ago, first in Latin America where I held a number of roles including Head of Securities Services business for the region [excluding Brazil and Mexico] and Head of Securities Services for Colombia. I moved to Europe with Citi in 2020 to lead product and service consistency across our Europe and the UK branches including Citi’s T2S markets. Prior to Citi, I spent six years as Operations and Issuer Heads at the Colombian Stock Exchange (BVC) where I led the integration project between the Colombian, Peruvian and Chilean equity markets. I now have over 25 years of experience in the financial services sector across investment banking, capital markets and the public sector and I continue to be enthused by what lies ahead.
What do you see as the biggest opportunity and challenge that needs to be addressed in the post-trade industry?
As multiple analysts and economists have pointed to, Europe’s capital markets have the potential to compete with the US. Europe’s capital markets have deep liquidity to attract issuers and offer attractive rates to finance the region’s economic growth while making savings more attractive and profitable to support citizens’ pensions and retirement plans. However, the landscape is complex. Multiple national laws, regulations and market practices are creating challenges like high costs and liquidity fragmentation that will need to be addressed to realize the opportunity for Europe.
The biggest challenge and at the same time, the biggest opportunity lies in how these differences can be overcome with feasible and scalable measures.
Some of these measures could be single rulebooks for issuance and corporate events, multimarket CSDs ensuring consistency in messaging, aligning information sources, and gaining scale to reduce costs for participants.
What’s the most unexpected lesson you’ve learned or myth you’ve debunked by working in the financial industry?
The most unexpected lesson I learned, while working in the financial industry was the true nature of its operational sophistication.
My early career in capital markets, specifically in investment banking's front office, immersed me in discussions of co-location, nanosecond trade execution, algorithmic investment strategies, and the relentless pursuit of time-to-market advantages. However, transitioning to manage the back office at the exchange presented a different reality where the reliance on manual processes, paper-based workflows still existed, coupled with daily stress on end-of-day closures. While this unveiled a less glamorous, more foundational side of capital markets, it also unexpectedly ignited a deep passion for understanding and optimizing these critical, often overlooked, operational pillars.