Yesterday (August 14), Citi announced the finalised transfer of its Taiwan-based consumer business to Singapore-headquartered DBS, following launch of the process in January 2022.
For a consideration of approximately $1.2 billion, DBS has taken over Citi’s former retail banking, credit card, mortgage and unsecured lending businesses in the market, making it Taiwan’s “largest foreign bank” by assets. Full integration took place over the past weekend, an announcement by DBS confirmed.
As part of the transaction, DBS assumes approximately 3,000 of Citi’s former members of staff. A spokesperson for DBS clarified with FinanceAsia why this figure differs from the original estimation (of 3,500 team members) upon transaction launch: “New employment contracts were offered to all employees of Citi Consumer Taiwan as part of the integration process. Close to 3,000 employees eventually accepted these offers, and moved over the DBS upon the completion of the integration.”
Commenting on the acquisition, CEO of DBS, Piyush Gupta, said in the bank’s release, “Our successful integration of Citi Consumer Taiwan with DBS continues our strategy of building meaningful scale in our core Asian markets. By bringing a prized Citi franchise into our fold, we accelerate our consumer business growth in Taiwan by at least 10 years.”
“Overnight, revenue from the market will more than double to over SGD 1.3 billion ($959.25 million),” he added.
The sale by Citi forms part of the bank’s strategic decision announced in April 2021, to withdraw its consumer franchises from 14 markets across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Mexico, in order to refocus effort towards its institutional clients and wealth businesses.
In January, the bank appointed Aftab Ahmed as CEO for Taiwan, following his responsibilities leading the bank’s presence in Egypt and Hungary, as well as his most recent post as chief operating officer (COO) of the Philippines business.
Morgan Stanley acted as financial advisor to DBS on the transaction, while Allen & Gledhill acted as the bank’s lead legal advisor and Baker McKenzie advised DBS locally. Citi self-advised on financials, while Clifford Chance served as the seller's legal advisor.
