UPDATE 1-Citigroup Singapore prime brokerage head leaves

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By Jeffrey Hodgson

HONG KONG Nov 25 (Reuters) - The head of the Singapore prime brokerage unit of Citigroup Inc (C.N), which helps service Asia's hard hit hedge fund industry, has left the U.S. bank, a spokesman confirmed on Tuesday.

The online edition of Asian Investor magazine (www.asianinvestor.net) had reported earlier that Alexis Fosler was no longer leading the prime brokerage unit in the wealthy city-state, one of Asia's largest hedge fund centres.

Fosler could not immediately be reached for comment.

But the spokesman said the three-person team she led is still in place and Citigroup "remains committed to Singapore prime broking."

Prime brokers provide trade execution, stock lending, capital introduction and other services to hedge funds, whose high volume trading strategies can make them a rich source of fees in good times.

Citigroup had said in early August that its Asia Pacific prime finance unit, which competes with U.S. peers including Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and Morgan Stanley (MS.N), had grown the operation to more than 40 staff.

But the lender has since been slammed by the global financial crisis, with the U.S. announcing a bailout on Sunday in which it agreed to shoulder most losses on about $306 billion of the bank's risky assets, and inject new capital.

Asia's hedge fund industry has also been hit hard by tumbling markets. After five straight years of double-digit percentage gains, the Eurekahedge Asian Hedge Fund Index is down more than 20 percent this year. Hedge fund closures are up from 2007 and start-ups have waned.

Other recent prime brokerage moves included the departure of Kurt Baker as the head of Morgan Stanley's prime brokerage arm in Asia. (Reporting by Jeffrey Hodgson and Saeed Azhar; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree and Tony Munroe)