Citigroup Inc., a U.S.-based financial firm, said it will withdraw its retail financing from 13 countries, including South Korea.
Citigroup announced on April 15 that it will withdraw its retail banking business from 13 countries, including Korea, China, India and Australia, as part of its continued restructuring of its business strategy.
Last year's total net profit of 13 countries that Citigroup decided to withdraw from retail financing was zero.
Peter Barbej, CEO of Citigroup's Asia-Pacific branch, told The Wall Street Journal, "We will increase the amount of customer management assets in Asia to $450 billion by 2025.”
CEO Barbej said, "To do this, we will add 1,200 more technical and operational personnel and 1,100 more private bankers in Hong Kong and Singapore."
The WSJ said, "The Citigroup will increase the size of its wealthier assets in Asia by 50 percent more," adding, "This means it will focus more on the growing number of wealthy entrepreneurs and their businesses in Asia."
In a related development, Citibank said on April 18, "Financial services for individual customers, such as margin, receipt, card and asset management, will remain the same until the sale or business suspension plan is confirmed."
The financial sector believes that if the exit strategy at the Citigroup level materializes, existing contracts will be maintained but new loans will be suspended.
If the sale fails, the business may be gradually reduced or abolished. In this case, Citibank Korea will gradually reduce its business by encouraging existing customers to transfer assets to other financial firms and reducing its employees. There is a precedent in 2013 when HSBC Bank took steps to abolish personal financial affairs.
Citibank said, "As soon as a follow-up plan is prepared, we will disclose it through necessary consultations with the supervisory authorities. We will do our best to minimize inconvenience to customers."
