Citigroup poached a volatility trader from Barclays to run index flow trading, reinforcing a desk hard hit by Wall Street talent war

After suffering a series of departures earlier this year, Citigroup is adding reinforcements to its equity derivatives unit.

Citi has hired Etienne Lussiez, a director at Barclays, to run its index flow volatility trading desk, according to three sources familiar with the matter. It wasn’t immediately clear who Lussiez would report to.

Representatives for Citi and Barclays did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Lussiez did not respond to a request for comment.

Lussiez joined Barclays straight out of college in 2013 and traded derivatives linked to indexes like the S&P 500. He joins a desk that lost several key personnel in the past year amid a hiring frenzy for volatility traders.

Dan Baranovsky, who ran North American equity derivatives and cash trading at Citi, left in the spring to join Citadel as a portfolio manager, one of a flurry of buy-side derivatives hires. Seok Yoon Jeong, a managing director in flow volatility trading, joined Brevan Howard and Benjamin Texier, a director in equity derivatives trading, joined Millennium.

Barclays has now lost at least three senior traders in its derivatives group, including Aaron Katzman, an MD who joined Jane Street, and Michael Hosana, an MD who left for Millennium.