Esguevillas, a veteran who participated in some of Europe's most significant initial public offerings, such as EDP Renewables, Allfunds and Inditex has decided to leave the bank to pursue new challenges in his career.

The memo, signed by Valery Barrier and Suneel Hargunani, ECM EMEA Co-Heads at Citi, does not specify who will take over Esguevilla´s role.

European equity capital markets have faced a challenging year in 2022, and Spain and Portugal have been among the hardest-hit markets, with a drop of 91% in activity to a combined $1.2 billion, according to Refinitiv.

Average volumes for ECM in Spain and Portugal during the last 10 years have been $15.5 billion.

A number of factors have contributed to this decline, including the ongoing economic uncertainty, rising interest rates and the impact on businesses and investors' confidence due to the war in Ukraine.

(Reporting by Andres Gonzalez, editing by Louise Heavens)