by Anusha Basra
As part of the Global Connections series hosted by the World Affairs Council of Greater Houston (WACH), the council had the opportunity to interview Stephen Trauber, the Global Head of Energy for Citi, a global investment bank. In addition to his duties as a Vice Chairman and Global Head of Energy, Mr. Trauber has worked with and served as lead financier for many of the industry’s IPOs in the past 30 years. Below summarizes key highlights of this dialogue.
Daily duties
Mr. Trauber begins explaining how he advises the corporate clients at Citi, which are producers at midstream and downstream companies that work in the energy sector. He then talks about how he is able to form a perspective on what the future will hold based on data and different views from leaders in the energy sector. Trauber then mentioned how he was positive about the energy sector continuing to thrive with investors returning after covid.
Impacts from Covid
Furthermore, Mr. Trauber explains how covid affected Citi as a whole, since it is a global company, they had to first look at the impacts within the people in the company. This included shutting down offices and sending people home. After dealing with the people in the company, the next important step was to look after their clients. He said that there was “stress in the system” in which they saw their demand, profitability, and volumes fall. Everyone needed a rush for capital which led to many corrections within the financial system and allowed banks to be stronger.
The capital eventually started to flow after reconstruction after the early stages of covid. There have been many record highs in the stock market as well and after implementing many safety nets during covid, it was able to support the economy and make a successful exit out of covid.
Critical global challenges
Mr. Trauber was asked to elaborate on some challenges and he started off with the problem with climate change. He explains how climate change has capital being thrown at it left and right where every energy sector is trying to create a sustainable supply chain.
He also explains how racial equity is another challenge that needs to be tackled effectively especially after the passing of George Floyd, Mr. Trauber strongly believes many changes need to be made within people and corporations. He also lists out other challenges that need to be addressed such as poverty, public health and the water supply. He believes many pf these changes can come about after working together as a global society.To get more of Mr. Traubers’s insights into his role from the energy sector, his responses to a few audience questions, and a more thorough dive into CitiBanki, watch our video here: