Megabank brings ex-Franklin CIO to lead market and allocation strategies. Citigroup has made former Franklin Templeton CIO Jeffrey Applegate CIO of its Global Wealth Management (GWM) division. He reports to Sallie Krawcheck, CEO of Citi GWM.

Applegate will lead Citi GWM's investment-strategy team in shaping the firm's outlook on markets and asset allocation. He will also work closely with Paul Hatch, head of investments -- that is, platforms and products -- for Citi GWM.

Return engagement

"Jeff is a powerful thought leader and I am glad to welcome him to Citi," says Krawcheck. "I'm confident he and the team will do an exceptional job at leveraging Citi's vast and deep intellectual capital resources to help drive performance for our clients."

At Franklin Templeton, Applegate was in charge of investment policy for Fiduciary Trust, Fiduciary Global Advisors and Franklin Templeton Alternative Strategies. Before that was chief investment strategist with Lehman Brothers and Credit Suisse -- and before that he spent the better part of two decades at Smith Barney, first at a political economist, then as chief investment strategist for E.F. Hutton (now part of Smith Barney).

Applegate replaces Paul Guidone, who left Citi in April 2007.

Citi amalgamated its private bank, Smith Barney and its investment-research unit to form GWM late in 2005. -FWR

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