Ida Liu became head of Citi's North American private bank in 2019 and then went on to beat her projections by 12% in 2020 despite the pandemic. That helped her earn a promotion last year to global head, running 50 offices across the globe and overseeing more than $500 billion in client business.
Liu is focusing on what she calls a "full family" approach — expanding client relationships to include spouses, children, grandchildren and extended family. The idea is to build a self-sustaining business model that will ensure the legacy of family wealth for decades to come. As part of this approach, Liu's organization created a digital learning and networking portal for the bank's next-generation clients, called Citi Latitude, in late 2021.
The financial results remain strong. Citi Private Bank is seeing double-digit revenue growth and record levels of new client acquisition, despite the turmoil posed by the pandemic. Her team welcomed 819 new ultra-high-net-worth clients in 2021 and now provides services to about a third of the world's billionaires. Liu also boosted the number of female clients at the private bank — by 27% in 2021, the highest increase in years.
The daughter of a venture capitalist, Liu grew up in San Francisco, went to Wellesley College, then became an investment banker. She left Wall Street to work as an executive at the fashion house Vivienne Tam, then returned several years later, pitching Citi on the concept of a new private-bank group focused on fashion, media and entertainment clients that she would run. Her next big idea was a U.S.-based group focused on wealthy Asians, which she started in 2011.
Liu is a champion for diversity and inclusion, working in two of Citi's Affinity Networks that are focused on developing support systems and promoting diverse talent across the firm. She's also a board member of the Young Presidents' Organization, a global leadership community of chief executives.
