Several banks including DBS Group and Standard Chartered are reportedly vying for parts of Citigroup’s Asia consumer operations.
The other banks interested in bidding for the Citi operations include Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), OCBC, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Reuters reported citing people familiar with the matter.
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None of the parties gave any official confirmation on the matter.
Citi recently announced plans is to withdraw from retail banking in 13 markets. These markets are Australia, Bahrain, China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
These markets contributed $4.2bn to Citi’s $74.3bn revenue last year and accounted for a combined loss of $40m in the consumer banking business.
In 2020, the operations Citi is pulling the plug on had $82bn in assets.
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By GlobalDataOutside the US, the bank will now have retail banking business in Singapore, Hong Kong, the UAE and London.
“DBS has always been open to exploring sensible bolt-on opportunities in markets where we have a consumer banking franchise (China, India, Indonesia and Taiwan) and where we can overlay our digital capabilities,” DBS was quoted as saying by the news agency.
According to Reuters, DBS is interested in Citi’s India business and so is Standard Chartered.
Kotak Mahindra Bank and Axis Bank are also interested in this business, reportedly valued at more than $2bn.
Besides, SBI Cards and Payment Services is vying for Citi’s credit card portfolio in India, according to the report.
“India is the jewel in the crown and will command a better price than the other markets,” one of the sources was quoted as saying.
Earlier, DBS had acquired ANZ’s wealth management and retail banking business in five Asian markets.
The deal worth over $80m covered Singapore, Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan and Indonesia.
DBS, OCBC, Standard Chartered, and the Japanese banks are also eyeing some of Citi’s Southeast Asia operations, the report noted.
Domestic banks could be reportedly interested in the bank’s Australia and South Korea businesses.
The sale process is expected to begin in a couple of weeks, the news agency said.
