Citi is hiring new staff to boost its trade finance services business in Asia, a spokesperson at the bank tells GTR.

Citi expects to fill approximately 50 to 70 new positions in its global trade services (GTS) business in the near-term in markets such as China, India, Malaysia and Australia.

The bank’s Asian GTS business currently employs around 5,200 people, having bolstered its ranks by several hundred last year.

For the first nine months of 2011, Citi’s Asian trade finance business provided services for US$192bn worth of imports and exports − up 40% from the corresponding period last year. The bank has been financing approximately US$1bn of trade assets a month through its Singapore trade finance centre.

The news comes after other European banks, such as BNP Paribas and Société Générale, plan to cut their global workforce.