He said: “The EU post-Brexit has got a lot to build in terms of the depth of its capital markets. It’s got a banking union and a capital markets union, both of which are not progressing as fast in terms of delivering an outcome as a place where corporate clients and institutional clients can raise capital and do it in a seamless way within the union.”
The European Commission has been attempting to force some activities to be relocated within the bloc: chiefly lucrative clearing activity centred in London.
Clearing houses act as middlemen in derivatives trades between banks and have become a vital part of the financial system since the 2008 financial crisis.
The Commission has come under fire over its plans to punish banks for failing to shift lucrative clearing activity out of the City of London.
Last year, the European Banking Federation (EBF), which represents the bloc’s major lenders, said the policy would cause “serious market disruption” and “significantly weaken the attractiveness and competitiveness” of EU clearing houses.
Livingstone said: “If they put a wall around the EU and say the EU will finance itself, we think that is not the most optimal policy setting.
“So rather than sort of say, well, should they or should they not put clearing in the EU, it’s actually looking at what’s the best way to finance European businesses.
“When we talk to the policymakers and member states, we’re stressing that really what the EU should want is [access] to capital markets internationally as well as those domestically generated in the EU for financing companies.”
Citi was one of the first international lenders to incorporate locally in mainland China in 2007 after local regulators relaxed rules to encourage foreign banks.
Despite growing geopolitical tensions between China and the West, Livingstone believes the region still represents a key growth opportunity for Citi.
He said: “The level of opportunity remains high because China still needs to mature through its banking system, securities and market systems.
“It’s growing all the time and producing larger companies and they need financing. So the outlook on that dimension remains positive. Our institutional business in China is certainly one that we anticipate will grow alongside those opportunities.
“Geopolitical tensions clearly exist but I think, on an operating level and a business level, they’re not impediments.”
Livingstone declined to comment when asked if Citi has contingency plans in place for its Chinese business in the event of Beijing invading Taiwan.
Last month, Citi informed its 9,000 UK employees that it would start holding them “accountable” for complying with the bank’s hybrid working rules. It said it would do this by starting to monitor employees’ office attendance.
