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Citigroup (C) to Expand Asia Institutional Arm With 3K Hirings
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In an interview with Reuters, Citigroup Inc.’s (C - Free Report) Asia-Pacific CEO, Peter Babej, underlined staff expansion plans for its Asia institutional business. Per a Reuter’s article, the company plans to hire 3,000 staff to strengthen the institutional banking and wealth management businesses.
Citigroup's institutional business houses investment banking, and corporate and commercial banking units that offer trade finance, cash management, payments, and custody services, among others. Also, with its main regional institutional business in Hong Kong and Singapore, the company is likely to emphasize these locations to increase the headcount in the unit.
While its consumer banking unit is to exit 10 Asia markets, the company plans to drive revenues in the region by leveraging on vast economies and growing wealth in the region.
Last year it announced plans to hire 2,300 people by 2025 for its wealth management unit. Per a spokesperson, the company is on track to grow wealth assets in Asia by $150 billion by 2025.
Citigroup previously informed about the capital released from the divestitures of consumer banking businesses in 13 markets, it would be either returned to shareholders or redeployed in lucrative institutional banking and wealth management units.
Markedly, in January 2022, the company revealed plans to exit the consumer, small business and middle-market banking operations in Mexico. This is in addition to its major strategic action announced in April 2021 to exit the consumer banking business in 13 markets across Asia and EMEA, including Australia, Bahrain, China, India, Indonesia and Korea.
Since then, the company has signed deals to sell nine consumer businesses in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, India and Bahrain, and has completed the sale of its Australian consumer business. It plans to gradually wind down its consumer banking business in South Korea.
Such exits will free up capital and help the company pursue investments in wealth management operations in Singapore, Hong Kong, the UAE and London to stoke growth. Citigroup anticipates the release of $12 billion (in aggregate) of allocated tangible common equity over time from such market exits. The efforts will likely help augment its profitability and efficiency over the long term.
Shares of the bank have lost 16.2% over the last six months, underperforming the 15.1% decline of the industry.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Stocks Worth a Look
A couple of better-ranked stocks in the banking space are Old National Bancorp (ONB - Free Report) and Civista Bancshares, Inc. (CIVB - Free Report) . ONB and CIVB carry a Zacks Rank of 2 (Buy) at present.
Old National Bancorp’s Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has been unrevised over the past 30 days. Over the past six months, shares of ONB have declined 9.1%.
Civista Bancshares witnessed a 3% upward earnings estimate revision for 2022 over the past 60 days. Over the past six months, shares of CIVB have declined 11.2%.
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Citigroup (C) to Expand Asia Institutional Arm With 3K Hirings
In an interview with Reuters, Citigroup Inc.’s (C - Free Report) Asia-Pacific CEO, Peter Babej, underlined staff expansion plans for its Asia institutional business. Per a Reuter’s article, the company plans to hire 3,000 staff to strengthen the institutional banking and wealth management businesses.
Citigroup's institutional business houses investment banking, and corporate and commercial banking units that offer trade finance, cash management, payments, and custody services, among others. Also, with its main regional institutional business in Hong Kong and Singapore, the company is likely to emphasize these locations to increase the headcount in the unit.
While its consumer banking unit is to exit 10 Asia markets, the company plans to drive revenues in the region by leveraging on vast economies and growing wealth in the region.
Last year it announced plans to hire 2,300 people by 2025 for its wealth management unit. Per a spokesperson, the company is on track to grow wealth assets in Asia by $150 billion by 2025.
Citigroup previously informed about the capital released from the divestitures of consumer banking businesses in 13 markets, it would be either returned to shareholders or redeployed in lucrative institutional banking and wealth management units.
Markedly, in January 2022, the company revealed plans to exit the consumer, small business and middle-market banking operations in Mexico. This is in addition to its major strategic action announced in April 2021 to exit the consumer banking business in 13 markets across Asia and EMEA, including Australia, Bahrain, China, India, Indonesia and Korea.
Since then, the company has signed deals to sell nine consumer businesses in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, India and Bahrain, and has completed the sale of its Australian consumer business. It plans to gradually wind down its consumer banking business in South Korea.
Such exits will free up capital and help the company pursue investments in wealth management operations in Singapore, Hong Kong, the UAE and London to stoke growth. Citigroup anticipates the release of $12 billion (in aggregate) of allocated tangible common equity over time from such market exits. The efforts will likely help augment its profitability and efficiency over the long term.
Citigroup currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Shares of the bank have lost 16.2% over the last six months, underperforming the 15.1% decline of the industry.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Stocks Worth a Look
A couple of better-ranked stocks in the banking space are Old National Bancorp (ONB - Free Report) and Civista Bancshares, Inc. (CIVB - Free Report) . ONB and CIVB carry a Zacks Rank of 2 (Buy) at present.
Old National Bancorp’s Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has been unrevised over the past 30 days. Over the past six months, shares of ONB have declined 9.1%.
Civista Bancshares witnessed a 3% upward earnings estimate revision for 2022 over the past 60 days. Over the past six months, shares of CIVB have declined 11.2%.