Mr. Jay Collins

Jay Collins has covered governments his entire career. He currently covers governments as diverse and complex as the U.S. government and Greece, as well as Emerging Market governments, such as the Philippines and Brazil.

Jay has responsibility for driving content, innovation, and replicable solutions across Citi’s sovereign, supranational, and local government client base.  He has advised 46 different governments on privatizations, liability management and funding solutions, derivatives, and electronic banking services, including mobile finance and card solutions. 

Jay is currently working with Citi’s government clients to (1) implement commodity, rates and fx risk mitigation techniques (2) reduce paper and cash processes (3) develop new and innovative funding strategies, including liability management (4) monetize state assets (5) utilize mobile financial solutions to improve financial inclusion and (6) enhance emergency financial preparedness.

Jay was Global Head of Citi’s Public Sector Group from 2005-2011 where he had day to day management responsibility for Citi’s relationships with central banks, finance ministries, pensions, sovereign wealth funds, ministries of health, education, defense, social security systems, cities, and other government and quasi-government agencies. From 2006-2007, Jay was also Global Head of Infrastructure for Citi.

From 2001- 2005, Jay was Head of Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEEMEA) for Global Banking at Citi. His responsibilities included managing the coverage effort for Investment Banking, Emerging Markets Corporate Banking, and Global Relationship Banking in the region. He also had responsibility for Islamic Finance and Chaired the EM investment banking committee.

Prior to his CEEMEA position, Jay was Deputy Head and the senior foreigner in Nikko Citigroup's Investment Banking Division, where he was responsible for integrating Nikko with Citi’s global business.  He has also served as Chief Operating Officer for the Latin America Region. In addition to his deal responsibilities, Jay managed Salomon Brother's joint ventures in Brazil, Chile, and Argentina.

Jay has covered clients around the world in every sector and run transactions across the full product spectrum of Citi. He has advised governments and corporations on large scale financings and M&A on every continent.

Throughout his career at Citi, Jay has served on various committees including compensation, human resources, investment banking management, fairness opinions, business selection, corporate banking management, and diversity.  He has been a Senior Credit Officer since 2006.

Before joining Citi, Jay worked for Merrill Lynch in their large-cap Investment Banking team and was a founding member of the Direct Investment Group, Merrill's Emerging Markets principal investing team. 

Prior to becoming a banker, Jay worked in Washington, DC where he ran Government Relations for CSIS, the largest international think tank in the U.S., and later served as President of the G7 Council, a non-profit shadow G7 group of former Finance Ministers, Central Bank Governors, and economists.

He has appeared on national and international news, including CNN, written opinion editorials for the Los Angeles Times, and the International Herald Tribune, among others. He has spoken to such groups as the Asia Society and the World Affairs Council on International Affairs. Jay is the recipient of the Admiral Thomas Moorer Leadership Award.

Jay has recently given speeches on Central Bank Reserve Management Policy, Financial Inclusion and Mobile Finance in the Emerging Markets, Anti-Corruption Efforts in Government, The Future of Mobile Finance, Natural Disaster Financial Management, Infrastructure Best Practices, and Europe’s Debt Crisis.

Jay serves on the Board of Trustees of the U.S. Phillipines Society and the China Institute. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Bretton Woods Committee and the International Policy Committee of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Jay has a Masters Degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service where he graduated with Honors in International Business. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Colorado College. He attended Waseda University. Jay speaks Japanese, Spanish, and Portuguese.