UOB has obtained regulatory approval from Financial institution Negara Malaysia (BNM) for its acquisition of Citi’s client banking enterprise in Malaysia, following the settlement between the 2 banks earlier this 12 months.
With this replace, UOB and Citi will subsequent want to use for a vesting order from the Excessive Court docket to switch Citi’s client banking property and liabilities to UOB. The transaction is predicted to be accomplished by the fourth quarter of 2022, with UOB taking up Citi’s retail banking and client bank card companies, in addition to its client financial institution workers and supporting workers.
Commenting on acquisition, the chief govt officer of UOB Malaysia, Ng Wei Wei stated that it will scale up UOB’s retail enterprise with an expanded portfolio and accomplice ecosystem. “It additional strengthens UOB Malaysia’s outreach to clients by way of a wider community of branches and digital touchpoints,” she acknowledged, including that it will lead to larger connectivity and better model recognition.
In the meantime, the chief govt officer of Citi Malaysia, Usman Ahmed promised that the financial institution will proceed to serve its client shoppers seamlessly up till the completion of the sale course of. “Citi stays deeply dedicated to Malaysia, and we’ll make investments additional in our market-leading institutional shoppers’ franchise to assist our Malaysian shoppers develop within the nation and overseas,” he stated. He additionally famous that the financial institution will share the date for the authorized switch sooner or later.
Citi had first introduced its intention to exit retail banking in a complete of 13 markets in April 2021 as a part of the financial institution’s technique to streamline its world enterprise. Except for Malaysia, this determination additionally impacted its enterprise in Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, China, and India – simply to call some. The financial institution ultimately agreed to promote its enterprise in Malaysia – together with these in Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam – to UOB in January 2022, after reviewing bids from a number of banks, together with Customary Chartered Financial institution and Hong Leong Financial institution.