04/15/2021

Citigroup is closing its consumer banking operations in 13 markets across Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Citigroup will shut down consumer banking operations in Australia, Bahrain, China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Its chief executive Jane Fraser said it "does not have the scale" to compete in these 13 markets. "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." "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, UAE and London," Ms Fraser said in a statement.

Citigroup plans to hire up to 500 people in its wealth management business in Hong Kong as it focuses on “wealth centres” in Asia, the expansion will include more than 300 new relationship managers in the city in the next five years, as the bank aims to triple its clients and double its assets under management (AUM) in Hong Kong’s wealth business by 2025.

Citi reported net income of $7.9bn (£5.7bn) for the first three months of 2021, beating analysts' expectations.