Citigroup to shutter retail banking operations in 13 countries including India

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Citigroup announced on April 15 that it will shutter retail banking operations in 13 countries including India and China.

The American multinational investment bank and financial services company has said that it will exit consumer/retail operations in 13 countries across Asia and Europe.

The 13 nations Citibank (the largest foreign bank in India) will pull out from are Australia, Bahrain, China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Notably, Citigroup’s Institutional Clients Group will continue to serve clients in the markets where it is ending consumer operations.

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Commenting on the move that will allow Citi to direct investments and resources to businesses where it has greater scale and growth potential, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser said: “Citigroup lacked the scale to properly compete in the 13 markets it is leaving.”

“As a result of the ongoing refresh of our strategy, we have decided that we are going to double down on wealth. We will operate our consumer banking franchise in Asia and EMEA solely from four wealth centres -- Singapore, Hong Kong, the UAE and London. This positions us to capture the strong growth and attractive returns the wealth management business offers through these important hubs,”  Fraser stated.

“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. We will continue to update you on strategic decisions as we make them while we work to increase the returns we deliver to our shareholders,” she added.