Singapore – Citi Commercial Bank (CCB) has launched the second season of its ‘Makers’ video series, shining a spotlight on 17 clients who are homegrown entrepreneurs across six markets in Asia Pacific. 

The series tells the stories of visionary leaders and how they grew their formidable businesses across Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore, and will run until April 2024.

From a close to 90-year jewelry brand that flourished from one goldsmith shop to nearly 1,000 stores covering Greater China; to a bioenergy business with a passion for ESG that started with no working capital and then went on to establish factories in Indonesia and China; to an e-commerce-led business which expanded from Singapore to other parts of Asia and now sees around 500,000 to 750,000 orders a day, the new season shines a spotlight on well-known companies from diverse industries. 

As business leaders narrate the stories behind their success, the series speaks to CCB’s ability to support rapidly growing mid-sized corporates that are increasingly born global or going global in record time. 

Gunjan Kalra, head, Asia North and Australia and Asia South at Citi Commercial Bank, said, “We are extremely proud of the ‘Makers’ video series and the strong partnership we have with our clients as we help them pursue their ambitions. The mid-market space is growing at an unprecedented pace globally and in Asia Pacific, driven by a strong spirit of entrepreneurship and a vibrant ecosystem that fosters startups. We understand this and we are actively using Citi’s global network of 95 markets to make it easy for our clients to expand their businesses across borders.”

She added, “With Citi Commercial Bank’s global industry coverage model, we are also supporting specific client needs across different industry groups by offering industry-specific knowledge and expertise rooted in a deep understanding of broader trends and how they might impact our clients’ businesses.”

Jakarta, Indonesia – Citi has announced that it has completed the sale of its Indonesian consumer banking business to UOB, effective November 20 this year. The sale includes retail banking, credit card, and unsecured lending businesses, as well as the transfer of employees.

This is the latest completed deal by UOB after it entered into an agreement with Citi January 2022 as part of a broader sale agreement covering consumer banking across Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Sales in Malaysia and Thailand were completed on November 1, 2022, and the sale in Vietnam was completed on March 1, 2023.

The sale excludes the bank’s institutional businesses, and Citi remains focused on serving institutional clients in Indonesia locally, regionally and globally.

Batara Sianturi, country officer for Indonesia at Citi, said, “Citi is proud to have a long history in Indonesia, and we are intently focused on growing Citi’s institutional businesses in Indonesia, serving clients in the market, regionally and globally through our network to support cross-border needs.”

Meanwhile, Titi Cole, head of legacy franchises at Citi, commented, “Completing our final divestiture of a full consumer franchise in Asia marks a significant milestone in simplifying the firm. This is a testament to the commitment of our employees across these markets and a clear demonstration of Citi’s ability to execute on our strategy. We are sincerely grateful to our former employees in Indonesia and wish them the very best in their careers with UOB.”

Since announcing its intention to exit consumer banking across 14 markets in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Mexico as part of its strategic refresh, Citi has now closed sales in nine of those markets including Australia, Bahrain, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, in addition to Indonesia.

Taipei, Taiwan – Singaporean bank DBS has announced that it has completed the acquisition of the consumer banking business of Citi in Taiwan. The acquisition was completed over the weekend, according to the company.

With the acquisition of Citi Consumer Taiwan, DBS will become one of Taiwan’s largest foreign bank by assets. DBS Taiwan will have clear market leadership in loans, deposits, cards and investments amongst foreign players in the market. Additionally, close to 3,000 employees from Citi Consumer Taiwan have moved over to DBS.

Speaking about the acquisition, Piyush Gupta, CEO of DBS, said, “Our successful integration of Citi Consumer Taiwan with DBS continues our strategy of building meaningful scale in our core Asian markets. By bringing a prized Citi franchise into our fold, we accelerate our consumer business growth in Taiwan by at least 10 years. Overnight, revenue from the market will more than double to over SGD 1.3 billion.”

He added, “With the transaction, I am also confident that we will be able to provide more value to our customers, in particular, helping them grow their wealth through innovative products, and helping those who are business owners expand into new markets or participate in regional trade flows.”

Meanwhile, Ng Sier Han, CEO of DBS Taiwan, commented, “I am delighted to welcome our new Citi colleagues to the DBS family. Since we announced the transaction back in 2022, we have been working towards a seamless transition of the two businesses. Today marks a momentous milestone for DBS Taiwan, made doubly significant as we celebrate our 40th anniversary in the market.”

He added, “Over the years, DBS Taiwan has made significant strides with new innovations in digital banking and more recently, advancements in sustainability. Our enlarged franchise affords us greater opportunity to continue availing best-in-class products and services to our customers as we set ourselves apart as a different kind of bank – one that enables them to Live more, Bank less.”

The slew of acquisitions in Asia-Pacific also includes UnionBank acquiring the Philippine operations of Citi’s consumer banking business in 2021. This comes over two years after Citigroup announced that it is exiting its consumer businesses in 10 Asia-Pacific markets.

Singapore – SME growth financing platform Validus and global financial services company Citi have established a US$100m securitisation facility, collateralised by SME loans originated by Validus in Singapore. This will drive SME financing in Southeast Asia.

The facility is also supported by First Plus Asset Management, a Singapore-based multi-asset investment manager focused on Asia structured credit and equities.

Milena Naitoh, head of corporate development at Validus, said, “This collaboration with Citi underscores the quality of our origination, credit portfolio management, strength and resilience of our business, in today’s market environment. With this evolution in our financing strategy, as well as the support of Citi as an established player in the asset-backed securities space, we are now even better positioned to support the growth of SMEs with accessible and effortless business finance.” 

She added, “As Validus continues to extend its position as a leading all-in-one SME finance platform in Southeast Asia, this securitised lending structure, together with a diversified financing and product strategy, will enable us to grow at a much greater scale. We are honoured that Citi has chosen to collaborate with us on this landmark securitised lending transaction with a fintech start-up in Southeast Asia, and we are looking at replicating this transaction playbook across other markets.” 

Validus is currently raising its Series C equity round for an undisclosed amount. The combination of the securitisation facility and Series C equity funding will further drive Validus’ expansion plans as it starts to introduce neo-banking products in other Southeast Asia markets. 

Validus’ proprietary algorithmic credit models and uniquely aggregated alternative underwriting data has driven reliable historical performance in origination, underwriting and collections. Since its launch in 2015, Validus has disbursed over US$1.6 billion across more than 65,000 loans to small businesses in Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. 

Meanwhile, Lei Tie, co-founder and head of structured credit at First Plus, said, “We are thrilled to be part of the transaction, which has established a gold standard for non-recourse asset based financing for Southeast Asia, and to be able to support Validus on their next phase of growth.” 

The service of retail banking plays a significant role in consumers’ financial lifestyle, and as the industry continuously witnesses disruptions, we can expect players in retail banking to continue to undergo considerable development and transformation. This then opens up the competition to devise newer strategies to strengthen businesses and provide customers with an enhanced banking experience.

Last December 2021, we saw this into fruition in the Philippine market. UnionBank, one of the leading banking institutions in the Philippines, specifically, the seventh-largest publicly-listed bank in the country, has revealed that it has decided to acquire Citi’s consumer banking business in the country.

A few months prior to this, Citi has unveiled its new strategy to move its focus to its Institutional Clients Group in April 2021, driving them to finally let go of their consumer banking business in the Philippines. The acquisition by UnionBank entails a ‘share and business transfer agreement’ with various subsidiaries of Citi. Through this, UnionBank’s transactions will now include Citi’s credit card, personal loans, wealth management, and retail deposit businesses. It will also now own Citi’s real estate interests in relation to Citibank Square located in Eastwood, one of Manila’s main shopper destinations; three full-service bank branches, and five wealth centres, as well as two bank branch offices.

For MARKETECH APAC‘s industry deep dive The Inner State, we have invited Albert Cuadrante, Union Bank of the Philippines’ chief marketing officer, to tell more about his insights regarding the marketing implications of the recent acquisition.

Impact of Citi’s exit in the Philippines’ retail banking industry

UnionBank is widely known as one of the most digitally transformed and future-forward banks in the country, with over four million users on its digital platform, while Citi has had the third-largest credit card franchise in the country and is a pre-eminent wealth management provider.

Cuadrante believes that, with the above in mind, the move is a very positive development for the retail banking industry because ultimately, the “real winners here are the customers.” 

He further shared that there is also a minimal overlap, particularly in credit cards which accounts for [a] large portion of Citi’s customer base.

“The clear synergies that this acquisition presents us with opportunities to come out with even better products and further elevate our level of service to customers,” noted Cuadrante.

Uplifting UnionBank’s brand positioning

As per the effects of the acquisition on UnionBank’s brand positioning, Cuadrante said that UnionBank’s aspiration is to be a ‘great retail bank’ focused on growing its consumer retail banking business and led by its digital transformation initiatives. With the recent acquisition, he believes that this will provide them with a transformational opportunity to fast-track their growth aspirations in the retail banking segment.

With Citi being the country’s largest foreign bank and its consumer business offering a superior suite of product offerings in credit cards, personal loans, and wealth management, Cuadrante trusts that UnionBank will be able to benefit from Citi’s expertise in product development, spending management, data intelligence and modelling, portfolio managing and cross-sell, and sales and distribution. 

“This will enable UnionBank to effectively take the business to the next level and further strengthen our value proposition to our customers,” he said.

Citi’s customers transitioning to UnionBank

In terms of adopting Citi’s consumer banking customers, Cuadrante noted that UnionBank is committed to ensuring the quality of products and level of customer service Citi customers are currently enjoying.

He said that customers will have access to UnionBank’s digital channels, a wide range of product and service offerings, and branch network, over and above the existing branches, products, and services of Citi. In addition, customers will be able to benefit from its data-driven decision-making and omnichannel platform offering to enjoy personalised offers tailored to their needs.

Meanwhile, UnionBank plans to retain Citi’s good performance amongst its clients by treating the Citi portfolio as a separate business unit until such time when they are able to fully integrate the systems and practices between UnionBank and Citi.

“Citi, on their part, is committed to supporting the transition and shall continue to provide regional support until we are able to migrate their entire consumer business to our systems and platforms,” added Cuadrante.

The long-term benefit of the acquisition to UnionBank

UnionBank is expecting results in significant synergies for them, particularly from the opportunity to cross-sell products to a larger combined customer base, helping them gain scale and increase profitability and grow their penetration rate.

Cuadrante said that the combined credit card portfolio will bring them to #4 in the industry, up from #10 currently, and within striking distance of the top 3. Citi also has close to one million customers, ranging from the mass affluent to the high net worth, which complements their over 10 million customer accounts today.

“The Citi customer base is largely incremental as there is minimal overlap, particularly in credit cards which accounts for [a] large portion of Citi’s consumer business,” he added.