UPDATE 1- Citi names new Asia-Pacific, EMEA leaders

HONG KONG, July 6 (Reuters) - Citigroup (C.N) on Monday named Shengman Zhang as chairman of Asia-Pacific, and Stephen Bird and Shirish Apte as joint chief executives of Asia-Pacific as the bank seeks to strengthen its global business as it emerges from the financial crisis.

The U.S. bank also named Bill Mills and Alberto Verme as joint chief executives of Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

In Asia, Zhang would focus on building relationships with governments and regulators, the bank said in a statement.

Bird would be responsible for North Asia and Apte would focus on South Asia, it said.

Zhang, 52, formerly a managing director at the World Bank, joined Citigroup in 2006 as vice-chairman of global banking and chairman of the public sector group.

Bird, 42, joined the bank in 1998, and was most recently chief executive for North Asia.

Apte, 56, has been with Citi for 26 years and was previously chief executive of the bank's Central and Eastern European business.

Mills, 53, was most recently chief executive for Western Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Verme, 51, previously served as co-head of global investment banking, based in Dubai.

(Reporting by Joseph Chaney; Editing by Chris Lewis)