The integration of Citibank India Consumer Business remains well on track with around 3,200 Citi employees now part of the bank, Axis Bank managing director and chief executive officer Amitabh Chaudhry said in his message to shareholders.
Also, early traction from the Citibank customer base has been quite positive, Chaudhry said. "Our interactions with several high-value customers suggest their acknowledgement of the seamless transition," Chaudhry added.
On March 1, Axis Bank said it completed the acquisition of Citibank’s consumer business. The deal, which was announced in March 2022, saw India’s third-largest private sector bank absorbing Citibank’s consumer businesses, covering loans, credit cards, wealth management and retail banking operations in India.
The deal happened after Citigroup in 2021 announced its decision to shutter its retail banking operations in 13 countries, including India, as part of a global business strategy. Axis Bank put out a video advertisement to welcome Citibank’s 30 lakh plus customers on March 1.
Chaudhry said the bank has already started incremental onboarding of erstwhile ‘Suvidha’ salary accounts on Axis Bank platform for additional locations across the country where Citi was hitherto not present.
"While the acquired Citi business being entirely retail runs at a higher cost, it comes with higher return ratios and is ROE accretive post integration," Chaudhry, said adding it does not impede our ability to deliver our aspirational ROE.
The bank has identified over 60 synergy initiatives across the Bank to drive revenue and cost benefits, the CEO said. "We believe that this integration between two highly complementary institutions will enable us to create the gold standard in the retail space," Chaudhry added.
HIghlighting that by successfully completing the acquisition of Citibank's India consumer Business, Axis has achieved a new landmark in the Indian banking industry, Chaudhry added that it provides the bank an opportunity to further accelerate retail business growth.
Axis Bank on July 26 reported a 40 percent rise in net profit to Rs 5,790 crore for the April-June FY24 quarter from Rs 4,125 crore last year. According to a poll of three brokerages conducted by Moneycontrol, the bank was expected to report a net profit of Rs 5,889 crore. The lender missed analyst expectations.
The bank’s net interest income (NII) grew 27 percent year-on-year (YOY) to Rs 11,959 crore. Net interest margin (NIM) for Q1FY24 stood at 4.10 percent, up 50 bps YOY. The gross non-performing assets (GNPA) of the bank declined to 1.96 percent as compared with 2.76 percent last year.
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