FILE PHOTO: The Citigroup Inc (Citi) logo is seen at the SIBOS banking and financial conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada October 19, 2017. REUTERS/Chris Helgren

(Reuters) - Citigroup Inc C.N on Thursday named David Livingstone as head of its operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa region, in place of Jim Cowles, according to a memo seen by Reuters.

Livingstone, who was most recently the Wall Street bank’s chief country officer for Australia and New Zealand, is taking charge at a time when financial institutions in the U.K. and Europe are reorganizing in anticipation of a hard Brexit.

In his previous stint in the EMEA, Livingstone was the vice chairman of the investment banking and capital markets division in the region.

Cowles, who has been heading the EMEA region since 2013, is leaving to establish a not-for-profit organization, the memo said.