Traders Magazine spoke with Deirdre Dunn, Head of Global Rates, Citi, who won Excellence in Fixed Income at the 2024 Markets Choice Awards.
What is your reaction to winning the Award at the 2024 Markets Choice Awards?
I’m incredibly humbled, and grateful to Markets Media for this honor. Although I have learned, in life and in work, that all successes are a result of teamwork. This award is a testament to the amazing team I have at Citi, and all of the teammates who have helped me along the way.
Briefly describe your background and career to date.
I began my career in the mortgage trading department of Goldman Sachs, where I held a variety of different roles, including investing in commercial real estate, trading CMOs, GNMAs and Conventional mortgages. After six years at Goldman, I moved to Lehman Brothers, where I ran the mortgage pass through trading business. At Barclays, I held a variety of roles both London and New York in Rates Trading, before ultimately joining Citi in 2011. I’ve been fortunate to have had a number of roles at Citi, culminating in my current role as Head of Rates.
How did you get into finance?
I really fell into finance, nearly by accident. I was a Chemical Engineer undergrad, an education I loved and am incredibly grateful for. However, I was miserable spending 12 hours a day alone in a lab. A fixed income trading floor in 1998 was the exact opposite end of the spectrum. People had no personal space, all conversations were loud, public and in a language I was entirely unfamiliar with. To an outsider it looked like chaos, but it was happy, productive chaos. It reminded me of growing up as the oldest of six children and I wanted to be a part of it.
What is your current role and how do you excel in the role?
Currently I am responsible for the Global Rates business at Citi, which encompasses the trading, structuring and distribution of both G10 and LM rates products, and the Fixed Income Financing business. I excel in the role because of the team I have in place, everyone wants to be part of a winning team. Being able to grow and retain a strong team, in my opinion, benefits from an ability to listen, to ask the “right” questions, and to leverage the strengths of those around you.
Which areas of fixed income trading excite you the most?
Of all the products that I traded in my career, I had the most fun trading conventional pass throughs, especially in high origination environments. There is math, plenty of it, but also hypotheses. And the hypotheses are driven by the time and effort you put in to shape them. Ultimately, all trading is making logical decisions with incomplete information, and being willing to re-make those decisions, or not be wedded to the ones you made yesterday. The more intentional you are, the more complete you can make your information.
What were challenging times for you in your career, and how did you overcome the challenges?
The onset of COVID was an extremely challenging period for all of us, both personally and professionally. Not dissimilar to trading, a hallmark of that time was making the best decisions you could, with the information you had available. Citi’s global presence gave us a jump start on managing the sheer scope of what the crisis could bring. We were able to take early and decisive action to lighten risk, which enabled us to better serve our clients as market volatility became more extreme.
Being intentional and disciplined in our risk taking, while adapting to the new world order, was a challenge for everyone. That period called for a style of leadership that was empathetic, but coupled with a decisive adaptability. It required more visibility, more decisions for the collective, and more focus on what we could do, personally and professionally, to help so many in challenging times around us.
What would be your advice for someone starting a career in finance?
Ask ALL the questions… be curious. Be patient. With yourself, with others, with the trade, with your speed of learning, with feeling out of your depth… try to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
What are your goals for the future?
I hope to continue to add value to the organization, to the business, to my team, in whatever way is best. Most importantly, I hope to do that in conjunction with being the mom and person I want to be.
