Citibank Korea to announce exit strategy in August

Citibank Korea CEO Yoo Myung-soon

By Lee Min-hyung

Citibank Korea said Friday that it was postponing an announcement of its specific exit strategy from retail banking here until sometime in August.

CEO Yoo Myung-soon recently delivered this message to the firm's employees, saying that multiple potential investors were performing due diligence on the company, so the lender required more time to confirm a detailed exit plan.

"We expect the specific action plan over the sales of our retail banking division to be unveiled to our employees in August, after finalizing the ongoing due diligence and holding negotiations with financial regulators," Yoo said in a message to staff.

"Multiple financial firms have submitted a letter of intent, and we are taking enough time to support their due diligence to generate a positive outcome," she said.

Citibank Korea wants to sell its consumer banking unit as a whole, but it has also left open the possibility of division of sales by selling the card and wealth management businesses separately to multiple investors. In a worst-case scenario, the lender is also considering a phased shutdown of the retail banking portion if the company fails to reach any deal with potential investors.

Citi's union is insisting that management should sell the business as a whole amid concerns over heir job security, but it remains to be seen whether this demand will be met, as most investors remain pessimistic.

Yoo, however, reiterated her willingness to put top priority on protecting Citi's employees, despite lingering uncertainties over the sales of the unit.

"The protection of employees and customers stands at the top of the list for me and management, and we are going to do our utmost not to make the uncertain situation last for a long time," Yoo said. "We will also keep updating our employees on the state of negotiations with the union over the exit strategy."

The bank head also said that Citi would continue its corporate financing business here even after the planned exit of the consumer banking unit, saying that business is focusing on attracting new clients in the electric vehicle industry.

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