Tuesday 13 January 2009

Citi to Close China Private Banking Unit

Citigroup Inc will close its about three-year-old private banking unit in China, where the third-largest U.S. bank by assets once tried to attract money from fast growing millionaires, sources familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.

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Guanyu said...

Citi to Close China Private Banking Unit

Reuters
12 January 2009

SHANGHAI/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc will close its about three-year-old private banking unit in China, where the third-largest U.S. bank by assets once tried to attract money from fast growing millionaires, sources familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.

In principle, the closure of Citigroup’s private banking unit will not affect its existing top-end individual clients in China as they will be automatically folded into Citigroup’s consumer banking arm, which serves less wealthy customers, said the sources.

Several dozen employees who are currently working for the China unit will be internally transferred to other positions, in particular to its consumer banking business, said the sources who declined to be identified as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

So far, Citigroup’s private banking businesses elsewhere in Asia, including Hong Kong and Singapore, are being operated normally and it is unclear whether the decision to close the China operation would herald similar restructuring in other locations, said the sources.

A Citigroup spokesman in Shanghai declined to comment.