A total of eight consumer divestitures have been completed as part of Citi’s strategic refresh.

US bank Citigroup has completed the sale and migration of its Taiwan consumer businesses to Singapore’s DBS.

The sale, which was announced in January 2022, includes retail banking, credit card, mortgage and unsecured lending businesses, as well as the transfer of nearly 3,000 employees, the firm said in a statement. 

The transaction is expected to result in a regulatory capital benefit of approximately $1.2 billion. Citi's institutional client businesses in Taiwan are excluded from the sale, and Citi said it remains focused on serving institutional clients in Taiwan locally, regionally and globally. 

Since announcing its intention to exit consumer banking across 14 markets in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Mexico as part of its strategic refresh, Citi has signed sales agreements in nine markets and has now closed sales in eight of those markets including Australia, Bahrain, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, in addition to Taiwan. Citi plans to complete the sale of its Indonesia consumer business later this year.

The previously-announced wind-downs of Citi's consumer business in China and Korea and overall presence in Russia are in progress. Citi also announced that it will pursue an initial public offering (IPO) of its consumer, small business and middle market banking operations in Mexico, and that it intends to restart the exit process for the consumer banking business in Poland later in 2023, subject to market conditions. 

"As we conclude the sale of our consumer business in Taiwan, we remain committed to growing our market-leading institutional franchise and supporting clients in the market and across the region through our global network," Peter Babej, Citi Asia Pacific CEO, said. 

"We are sincerely grateful to our former employees for their steadfast commitment to clients and are confident that they'll have a great future with DBS. We have made significant progress in executing Citi's strategy, and completing this transaction is another important step forward in simplifying the firm," Titi Cole, Citi Legacy Franchises CEO, added.