Citi is shaking up its North American credit business, naming Carolyn Kee the chair of its newly integrated debt capital markets group.

Kee currently leads the US bank's investment grade loans platform, a team that's arranged large-scale transactions including an approximate $13 billion deal for Boeing last year that came in the aftermath of two 737 Max aircraft crashes.

Citi's decision to integrate its lending and debt capital markets arms comes as the bank aims to streamline the business. Investment banking fees helped deliver a solid first quarter for Citi, which reported $7.9 billion in net income, last week.

Peter Aherne and John McAuley will co-head Citi's new North America debt capital markets group, according to an internal memo seen by Insider.

Aherne's new role is an expansion of his current position as the bank's head of investment grade bonds. McAuley will still have sight of Citi's leveraged, asset-based, and transitional finance businesses.

Both Aherne and McAuley will report to John Chirico and Kevin Cox, Citi's co-heads of banking, capital markets, and advisory for North America. The pair will also report to Richard Zogheb, the bank's head of global debt capital markets.

Here are other personnel shifts as a result of the change:

• Susan Olsen will lead North American investment grade loans and report to Kee, Aherne, and McAuley. Olsen, a managing director at the bank, has structured and syndicated transactions alongside Kee in the investment grade lending business.
• Patrice Altongy, Marc Banziger, and Jeff Kania will co-head Citi's investment grade bond origination arm, according to the memo. Altongy has led Citi's financial institution groups business, while Benziger has focused on healthcare and retail clients, and Kania worked on consumer, retail, and industrial sectors.
• Steve Becton, meanwhile, will be chairman of the investment grade bond origination and syndication arms, a part of the capital markets business that he has worked in for 10 years. Altongy, Benziger, Kania, and Becton will all report to Aherne and McAuley.

A spokesperson for the bank confirmed the contents of the memo.

The moves come as Citi's new CEO Jane Fraser seeks to bring the bank's returns closer to those of peers JP Morgan and Bank of America, and move on from a $900 million error tied to cosmetics firm Revlon.

Citi reported revenues of $19.3 billion for the first quarter of 2021. Investment banking returns and reserves of loans helped buttress Citi's first-quarter earnings alongside revenues from sales and trading.

The bank also said in its earnings call that it would shutter retail operations in 13 countries outside the US and focus on wealth management in Singapore, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, and London.