Yahoo Finance Citigroup's retail bank to leave Australia
Citigroup has announced plans to close its Australian business, leaving as many as 1.8 million customers in the lurch.
The new chief executive of Citigoup Jane Fraser announced on Thursday a turnaround strategy that involves swiftly exiting the Australian consumer banking market.
The bank said it will leave 13 locations in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, including Australia.
Also read: Citigroup trims global consumer banking profile as earnings jump
Also read: ASX to open higher as global bank exits Australia
Fraser said in Australia and China, Citigroup simply doesn't have the scale 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," she said in a statement.
Despite this, Fraser said Citigroup will still operate wealth centres for high-net-worth individuals in Singapore and Hong Kong as well as London and the United Arab Emirates.
Fraser said the group’s Institutional Clients, which includes capital markets, commercial banking and private banking, will be unaffected.
No timeframe was been provided for the exits but Fraser told analysts there would be "no dilly-dallying" on moving forward with the plan.
The announcement was made as Citigroup reported US$7.94 billion in profit, triple the $2.54 billion it made a year earlier.
Citi launched its retail banking operations in Australia 1985 after being the first foreign bank granted a domestic banking licence.
It has 1.8 million customers in Australia and has managed to compete rather well with the big four - CBA, Westpac, ANZ and NAB.
Citigroup’s consumer banking business is now on the market and open to potential takeover opportunities.
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