Citi, a financial services company, announced on Tuesday, January 11th, that it intends to exit Citibanamex’s consumer banking, AFORE, and corporate banking businesses.
In other words, this bank would stop providing services to the general public and companies. However, it will maintain its operations for institutional clients.
In addition, investment programs in Mexico are maintained, but the bank will focus on its highly profitable businesses, said Alberto Gómez, corporate director of Institutional Development, Economic Studies and Communication at Citibanamex.
This is how the history of this US bank with the Mexican would end, as Citigroup acquired on May 17, 2001, the then Grupo Financiero Banamex-Accival (known as Banacci), for 12.5 billion US dollars.
What will happen to customers?
Citi said it intends to focus its consumer banking business on global wealth, as well as payments and loans and a specific retail presence in the United States.
Citibanamex clients will be sold under the Banamex brand to whoever is interested in acquiring these clients.
“Citi will continue to operate its Institutional Client Business (ICG) with a local banking license. Citi has been operating in Mexico for more than a century and the country will remain one of Citi’s largest institutional markets outside the United States, “he said in a statement.
“What Citi retains is corporate banking, markets, brokerage house, global private banking. What is for sale is everything else, the operation of branches, cards, payroll business, real estate portfolio, equity part, Afores, insurance company, and foundations and social commitment and real estate ”, added Gómez.
Most of the employees will stay with Banamex
As part of the process of separating Banamex and Citi, Gómez explained that most of the bank’s employees will stay with Banamex.
Regarding the separation process, Citi CEO Jane Fraser said that this operation “is fully aligned with the principles of our new strategic vision; It will allow us to allocate resources to opportunities aligned with Citi’s main strengths, ”he said in a statement.
Citi separates from Banamex after 20 years
In fact, this is not the only exit from consumer banking (general public) that Citi makes. It also announced exits in Asia and Europe, which are aligned with the repositioning of Citi’s consumer banking towards “Global Wealth” centers, the bank reported.
At the end of November 2021, Banamex ranked third in the total credit portfolio placed in the country, only below BBVA and Santander, according to data from the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV).
Banamex’s total loan portfolio amounted to 551,091 million pesos, 9.93% of the total loan portfolio of the Mexican banking system. In addition, as of November 2021, Afore Citibanamex managed 9,625,805 accounts.
At the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, the institution had 37,650 employees and 1,273 branches that are concentrated in the center of the country, although it has a nationwide presence.
Source: Insider
