KUALA LUMPUR – Citigroup Inc will exit from its consumer franchises in 13 markets, including Malaysia.
Chief executive officer Jane Fraser in a statement today said the bank will operate the consumer banking franchise in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East solely from Singapore, Hong Kong, London and the United Arab Emirates.
“This positions us to capture the attractive returns and strong growth the wealth management business offers through these important hubs.
“While the other 13 markets have excellent businesses, we do not have the scale needed to compete.”
The 12 other affected businesses include consumer franchises in Australia, Bahrain, China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
Fraser said the bank’s capital, investment dollars and other resources are better deployed against higher returning opportunities in wealth management and institutional businesses in Asia.
“Citigroup’s institutional clients’ group will continue to serve in these markets, which remain important to Citi’s global network.”
Citi Malaysia CEO Usman Ahmed said Citi has been in Malaysia for more than 60 years, adding that today’s global announcement does not, in any way, dilute its long-term commitment to Malaysia or the Asia-Pacific region.
“With this strategic repositioning, we will be able to further invest our resources in significantly growing institutional business in Malaysia.
“In addition, our Citi solutions centres in Penang and Kuala Lumpur remain an equally important operations hub, from where we execute millions of financial transactions worth over US$29 trillion (RM119 trillion) annually for more than 50 countries across the globe.”
He said there will be no immediate change to operations and staffing requirements as a result of the announcement.
For the first quarter of this year, the group reported a net income of US$7.9 billion, or US$3.62 per diluted share, on revenues of US$19.3 billion.
It reported a net income of US$2.5 billion, or US$1.06 per diluted share, on revenues of US$20.7 billion for the first quarter of last year.
Fraser said the group’s capital levels remain strong and stable, allowing the bank to respond to the needs of its clients and return capital to its shareholders.
“While global consumer banking revenues are down quarter-over-quarter as a result of the pandemic, this is the healthiest we have seen the consumer emerge from a crisis in recent history.” – Bernama, April 15, 2021
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