JAKARTA - The higher-ups of Citibank N. A. Indonesia (Citi Indonesia) confirmed that the acquisition of consumer banking business line of Citi Indonesia by Bank UOB Indonesia will be completed this Saturday, November 18, 2023.

According to their official websites, UOB and Citibank signed an agreement of acquisition of assets and liabilities of consumer banking segment of Citibank, including its retail business line, on January 14, 2022. What will be sold include credit cards, other loans, wealth management, retail deposit, and savings account.

Following this divestiture, Citi Indonesia acknowledged a slight decline in its savings account record. However, Pranadi Wangsa, Country Financial Officer of Citi Indonesia, reaffirmed that its current account growth will be able to offset its savings account decrease.

Then, Batara Sianturi, CEO of Citi Indonesia, also mentioned, that even in the middle of divestiture, consumer banking segment reported even growth in all business lines.

“We saw how credit cards grew 7%, bancassurance also grew 7%, priority banking 5%. There is a strong momentum,” he added.

With this acquisition, Citi Indonesia will then solely rely on its institutional banking business, which houses 6 lines. They consist of investment banking, corporate banking, commercial banking, treasury and trade solution (transaction banking), market and trading, and security services or custody.

Sianturi said that this decision is a part of a global strategy of Citi Group, which focuses consumer banking in its home country, the US, whereas outside branches will be focused for institutional banking.

“We are the biggest bank with multinational business,” claimed Sianturi further. “As we are a global bank, our connectivity lies in multinational companies,” he added.

Citi itself records 700 clients of multinational business, which make up most of its users now. “Therefore, we facilitate multinational businesses to invest or operate in Indonesia,” Sianturi clarified.

“We will continue to commit and focus to manage our institutional banking clients, be it locally, regionally, and globally,” Sianturi stated. (ZH)