Citi sells Taiwan consumer business to DBS

Citigroup, a U.S. bank, announced on Monday that it has successfully concluded the sale and transition of its consumer businesses in Taiwan to Singapore’s DBS Group.

The transferred consumer businesses encompass retail banking, credit card services, mortgage operations, and unsecured lending. This move also involves the transfer of nearly 3,000 employees. The transaction is projected to free up $1.2 billion in capital, which was previously earmarked to meet local regulatory requirements.

Notably, Citigroup’s institutional business in Taiwan remains unaffected by this sale.

This divestiture is in line with Citigroup’s broader strategy to exit consumer banking in 14 markets globally. Prior to Taiwan, Citigroup has already entered sales agreements for consumer units in nine markets and has successfully closed sales in seven other markets, including Australia, Bahrain, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. The bank also plans to finalise the sale of its ninth consumer unit in Indonesia later in the current year.