Hanoi (VNA) - Citigroup announced on January 14 that it will sell its consumer banking businesses in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam to Singapore's United Overseas Bank (UOB), CNBC reported.

As part of the deal, UOB said it will acquire Citigroup's unsecured and secured lending portfolios, wealth management and retail deposit units that make up its consumer banking business in the four markets.

UOB, which has a prominent presence in Southeast Asia, will pay Citigroup for the net assets of the acquired businesses as well as a premium of 690 million USD.

Citigroup's consumer business had an aggregate net value of about 4 billion SGD (2.97 billion USD) and a customer base of approximately 2.4 million as of June 30, 2021, UOB said.

UOB will also bring on board Citibank’s 5,000 employees in the four countries, including senior leadership, after the deal closes.

UOB estimated that completion will take place between mid-2022 and early 2024, depending on the progress and outcome of the regulatory approval process.

Citigroup said it expects the deal to release approximately 1.2 billion USD of allocated tangible common equity and an increase to tangible common equity of over 200 million USD. Tangible common equity is a measure used to assess a financial institution's ability to deal with potential losses.

The New York-based bank will still retain control of its institutional businesses in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser said last year that the bank will exit retail operations in 13 countries outside the US to improve returns. Many of those markets are in Asia-Pacific, including Australia, China, India and Indonesia.

Last year, Citigroup said it agreed to sell its consumer banking businesses in the Philippines and Australia and was winding down consumer banking operations in the Republic of Korea./.
VNA