Tag: Consumer banking

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.

USA – New York-headquartered global financial services giant Citigroup has recently announced that it will be pursuing exits from its consumer franchises in 13 markets, where 10 come from the Asia Pacific region. 

In its latest financial results for the first quarter of the year, Citigroup revealed that as part of its strategic actions for its global consumer banking, it has now decided to direct its focus to just four markets in Asia and EMEA, namely, Singapore, Hong Kong, the UAE, and London. As a result of this, it is marking the end of its consumer business in all the other markets in the two regions which include APAC units in Australia, China, India, and Indonesia as well as Korea, Malaysia, and the Philippines, and in Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Meanwhile, in EMEA, it will be exiting Bahrain, Poland, and Russia. 

Citigroup said that while this is the case, its Institutional Clients Group will continue to serve clients in the said markets, which remain important to Citi’s global network. The company said the move will allow Citi to direct investments and resources to businesses where it has the greatest scale and growth potential.

Its CEO, Jane Fraser, said that the ongoing refresh of the company’s strategy pushes them to double down on wealth. The markets it retained, she continued, positions the company to capture strong growth and attractive returns the wealth management business offers through the four important hubs.

“While the other 13 markets have excellent businesses, we don’t have the scale we need 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,” said Fraser. 

For the first quarter of 2021, Citigroup reported a net income of $7.9B, a jump compared to its net income of $2.5B in the same period in 2020.

“It’s been a better than expected start to the year, and we are optimistic about the macro environment. We are committed to serving our clients through the recovery and positioning the bank for a period of sustained growth,” said Fraser.