Citigroup to withdraw retail banking division from 13 markets, including Vietnam

April 16, 2021 | 20:57

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Citigroup – the parent firm of Citibank – has announced that it would withdraw its retail banking division from 13 markets in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, including Vietnam.

Citigroup will exit its consumer franchises in Australia, Bahrain, China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

citigroup to withdraw retail banking division from 13 markets including vietnam

The bank will instead operate its consumer-banking franchise in these regions from four wealth centres in Singapore, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, and London, according to its announcement.

According to Bloomberg, Citigroup will continue to provide financial services focusing on institutional clients, which houses the private bank, cash-management arm, and investment-banking and trading businesses.

The withdrawal comes on the heels of Citigroup reporting record quarterly profit, boosted by the flurry of blank-check companies it helped take public during the period, according to Yahoo! Finance.

“While the other 13 markets have excellent businesses, we don’t have the scale we need to compete. We believe our capital, investment dollars and other resources are better deployed against higher returning opportunities in wealth management and our institutional businesses in Asia,” said CEO Jane Fraser, as cited by Yahoo! Finance.

In Vietnam, the local franchise – Citibank Vietnam – was recently awarded the Digital Bank of the Year title by The Asset Magazine thanks to its impressive performance, resiliency, and acceleration of digital banking.

Citi was also named Digital Bank of the Year in the Asia-Pacific as well as Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Thailand, Bahrain, and the UAE in The Asset’s Triple A Digital Awards 2021.

By Lam Tien

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