In it for the Long Haul

The life expectancy in the United States is currently 79.3 years, a 0.18 percent increase from 2023. Every year it’s a figure that inches upwards; in 1950, it was 68.1.

“The population above 65 is expected to double by 2030 and the population above 80 is expected to triple,” Kristen Bitterly tells The CEO Magazine. “This creates some really interesting stats when it comes to the life expectancy of my two young sons and how long their anticipated age will be.”

While she adds that thinking about health care is crucial, there’s another aspect of health we need to increasingly consider as we live longer – financial health.

“It’s wonderful that we are living longer and can have a higher quality of life when it comes to our health with all the amazing innovation that’s happening in the pharmaceuticals and medtech space,” she says.

“As much as it is about health, longevity is also about quality of life when it comes to building, growing and protecting your wealth.”

However, the flip side is that people need to start thinking about their assets – and making their assets work for them for as long as possible.

“Ultimately, you have to plan differently,” she says. “What many of us have been used to, as almost the traditional path when you think about planning for retirement, is going to look and feel a lot different.”

As Head of Investment Solutions at Citi Global Wealth, the Citi division serving the spectrum of wealth clients, including ultra-high-net-worth individuals and family office clients, longevity is a core focus for Bitterly’s newly created team.

“As much as it is about health, longevity is also about quality of life when it comes to building, growing and protecting your wealth and making sure that you have access to the right planning tools and the right advisors to help you really think through that,” she says.

Ideas into Action

Bitterly describes her role as one of the greatest currently available in wealth management today. “Simply because, when you look at wealth as a line of business it is now one of our five core businesses at Citi,” she explains.

It’s a position that was newly created in September 2023, at the same time that CEO Jane Fraser announced a revised organizational structure that brought to the fore five key units: services, markets, banking, personal banking and wealth (United States). Bitterly’s boss is Head of Wealth Andy Sieg, who is himself a direct report into CEO Fraser.

“The mandate in Investment Solutions is to make sure that we are translating our ideas into action across all of our investment products, from investment management to alternative investments, private investments and sustainable investments,” she explains.

“It’s one thing to say you’re global, but bringing that globality and making it feel bespoke to the local market is something we uniquely do.”

It actions this out across three key client segments: Private Bank, which counts more than 14,000 ultra-high-net-worth clients from nearly 100 countries with an average net worth of over US$100 million; Citigold and Citigold Private Client, for affluent clients with more than US$1 million deposited; and Wealth at Work, custom wealth solutions offered directly within the workplaces of the world’s busiest professionals.

“We’re responsible for augmenting the front lines, making sure that our client coverage teams have the right education and support when we roll out new products and solutions,” she says.

“The other key pillars are around performance, ensuring that our strategies, whether they are created in house or in partnership with third party managers, are focused and that we’re holding ourselves accountable for the investment performance and our client experience.”

Along with longevity, another area that Bitterly identifies as an important trend is the alternatives space.

“I see it as a really critical part of client portfolios, which are suitable and qualified for higher risk investment. There is the potential to generate long-term returns,” she says.

A Global Business

Bitterly knows hers is a crowded corner of the market. “My boss, Andy, frequently says that there’s a lot of competition in this space, and it’s so true,” she says, describing the current climate as unprecedented.

“When we look at the wealth creation globally that we expect over the next decade, it’s upwards of a hundred trillion dollars, with 50 percent of that expected to come from outside of the United States.”

What sets Citi apart is the fact that it is truly a global wealth business. “It’s one thing to say you’re global, but bringing that globality and making it feel bespoke to the local market is something we uniquely do,” she explains.

If she has it her way, another leading edge will soon appear in the form of the platform that delivers its strategies and offerings to its clients.

“It’s not good enough to deliver focused products and strategies from an investment performance perspective,” she says. “It’s so important today to remove any pain points that would impact both our internal clients’ and our external clients’ experiences.

“You have to think: ‘If I was being rated as an app in the app store, would I get five stars?’”

“Something that is truly unique about our culture is just how excited people are about the opportunity in front of us.”

To ensure such a rating, long-term investments in technology are being made. In the shorter term, however, she’s turned to an Agile framework to drive change quickly.

“We’ve put together SWAT teams around the world focusing on unique pain points that exist within the different regions,” she explains.

Since it launched in November 2023, Bitterly’s team has been able to implement 15 enhancements, which range from performance reports to enhanced marketing materials and new product rollouts.

There’s one part of the business where she already knows Citi Investment Solutions scores full points – its talent.

“Something that is truly unique about our culture is just how excited people are about the opportunity in front of us,” she enthuses. “Our people are really where I feel that we’ve crushed it, and scored five out of five.”