C Citigroup Inc

   By P.R. Venkat 
 

Citigroup Inc. is selling its Philippines consumer banking business with assets worth nearly over $1.8 billion to a domestic bank as part of a strategy to exit consumer banking in Asia.

Union Bank of the Philippines will also get Citi's credit card, personal loans, wealth management, and retail deposit businesses as part of the transaction, the local bank said Thursday.

In a separate statement, Citigroup said that Union Bank will pay a premium of about $908 million in cash for net assets of the acquired business.

The acquisition will be funded through a combination of equity offerings and use of internal resources. Union Bank is making a 40 billion Philippine-peso ($796.9 million) rights offering, which its key shareholders, including Aboitiz Equity Ventures and Insular Life Assurance, have agreed to subscribe to.

As of end June, Citi's consumer-banking business in the Philippines had total assets of PHP89.5 billion including gross loans of PHP59.7 billion. Its total liabilities were PHP71.7 billion that included deposits of PHP67.8 billion, Union Bank said.

Citi's customer base stood at close to one million during the period.

The transaction with Citi is expected to close in the second half of 2022.

In April this year, the US bank said it would exit its consumer franchises in 13 overseas markets, 10 of which are in Asia, including mainland China--where the bank has had branches since 2007--India, South Korea and Australia.

The decision to exit these markets are part of Citi's move to expand its private-banking and wealth-management businesses. So far this year, the bank has hired several hundred staff members for its wealth business in Asia.

"We are delivering on our renewed strategy, focusing resources in areas where our global network positions us to deliver optimal growth and returns," Peter Babej, Citi Asia Pacific chief executive said.

Write to P.R. Vena at venkat.pr@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 22, 2021 21:14 ET (02:14 GMT)

Citigroup (NYSE:C)
Gráfico Histórico do Ativo
De Mar 2024 até Abr 2024

Citigroup (NYSE:C)
Gráfico Histórico do Ativo
De Abr 2023 até Abr 2024