Citigroup is closing in on its goal to scale back in retail banking across much of Asia, drawing a curtain on the Wall Street group’s ambitions to be a global consumer bank.
The US group is preparing to part ways with about 16,000 staff — a quarter of its workforce in Asia — and hundreds of thousands of customers by early next year as it considers offers for its retail banking operations in the region.
Citi received about 40 final bids from rival banks for its retail lending businesses in a dozen Asian markets this month, according to two people close to the matter, and expects to sign deals to sell them by the second quarter of next year.