Citi to offload operations in select Latin American countries

Citi has decided to sell off some of its customer operations in Latin America.
Citi has decided to sell off some of its customer operations in Latin America.

Citi is looking to sell some of its operations in Argentina, Brazil and Colombia.

The bank will get rid of its consumer banking operations, which house the credit card and retail banking portions. These operations will be transferred from Citicorp to Citi Holdings, which means that financial reports will appear as Citi Holdings starting in the first quarter of 2016.

"While our consumer businesses in Brazil, Argentina and Colombia are of high quality, we have decided to focus our efforts on opportunities with our institutional clients in these countries and throughout the wider region,” Citi CEO Michael Corbat, said. “Citi is committed to Latin America, where we have operated for over a century and built an unmatched network across 23 countries.”

The consumer portion of Citi’s operations in Latin America comprises approximately $6 billion in assets. It did not have an impact on Citi’s income in 2015.

“We allocate our resources where they can generate the best possible returns for our shareholders,” Corbat said. “These actions will further simplify our Global Consumer Bank, allowing us to more effectively deploy resources to where we have the ability to achieve scale within our targeted segments and see the greatest opportunity for growth.”