A Top Currency Executive at Citigroup Is Leaving

A top executive is leaving Citigroup’s currency business, the second prominent departure this year.

Jeff Feig, who is based in New York and spent the last decade as head of Citigroup’s foreign exchange business, is leaving the bank after 25 years, the bank confirmed on Tuesday.

His departure comes after that of Anil Prasad, another senior currency banker based in London, early this year.

“Given their tenures in their roles, these departures were well-anticipated, and part of the natural cycle of the business,” a Citigroup spokesman said. “We have a strong, talented bench that continues to support this core business.”

A successor to Mr. Feig is expected to be named in the coming weeks.

The departures come as the industry is facing heightened scrutiny and investigations into potential manipulation of the $5-trillion-a-day currency markets.

More than two dozen traders at some of the world’s largest banks have been suspended or fired amid the inquiries. Citigroup and Deutsche Bank have both fired employees as part of their internal investigations.

Regulators in Britain, Germany, the United States and other countries are investigating whether traders tried to improperly influence currency benchmarks.

The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority of Germany said this year that it had uncovered evidence that traders attempted to manipulate several currencies. The German regulator has not named any banks or traders publicly.

George Osborne, Britain’s chancellor of the Exchequer, said in a speech last week that the government would adopt new rules that make it a crime to manipulate benchmark rates used in currencies, fixed income and commodities markets.

The Bank of England has also suspended an employee while it reviews whether staff members at the central bank were aware of potential manipulation in the currency markets.

No banks or traders have been accused of wrongdoing in the inquiries.