Citi Treasurer Eric Aboaf to be Citizens Financial CFO

Citigroup Inc Global Treasurer Eric Aboaf will join Citizens Financial Group Inc as chief financial officer effective April 6.

He will succeed John Fawcett, who is retiring on April 30, Citizens said in a statement on Monday.

Loretta Moseman and Joe Bonocore will serve as interim co-heads for Citi's treasury as the company conducts a search for a successor, Citigroup CFO John Gerspach said in an internal memo seen by Reuters.

Aboaf joined Citi in 2003 and became treasurer in 2009, in the depth of the financial crisis, the memo said.

He was responsible for managing the Wall Street bank's $1.9 trillion balance sheet, according to the Citi website.

He also oversaw Citi's $400 billion liquidity portfolio and managed $200 billion of U.S. investments.

Aboaf has been a key figure in financing Citi and is familiar to institutional investors who buy Citi's debt.

He has been joining CFO John Gerspach in quarterly conference calls with bond investors who are keen on knowing the company's plans for offering short and long-term debt.

Aboaf restructured Citi's balance sheet to create $150 billion of additional liquidity and reduced funding costs to stabilize Citi's net interest margin. He also led a program to re-engineer the treasury function, according to the website.

Aboaf previously served as CFO of Citigroup's North American consumer group and its institutional client group.

A Citigroup spokesman declined to make additional comments. (Reporting by Amrutha Gayathri in Bengaluru and David Henry in New York; Editing by Don Sebastian)