DBS Bank has agreed to acquire the consumer banking business of Citi in Taiwan for about $706 million. The bank expects that Citi’s consumer business will bring in an additional $184 million in its annual net profit.
DBS Bank, one of Southeast Asia’s largest banks has agreed to buy Citi’s consumer banking business in Taiwan. This acquisition will accelerate DBS Taiwan’s growth by at least 10 years making it one of Taiwan’s largest foreign banks by assets.
With DBS’ plan to boost its regional presence, it will take over the 3,500 staff of Citi’s retail arm in Taiwan. The sale was part of the strategy of Jane Fraser, CEO of Citi to simplify the U.S bank’s operations and focus on more profitable businesses.
DBS agreed to pay Citi the premium of $706.6 million, above its net asset value
Chng Sok Hui, chief financial officer at DBS Group said the bank will pay Citi just the premium of S$956 million ($706.6 million) for the transaction and will take over Citi’s assets and liabilities.
She explained that Citi will pay DBS for the liabilities while DBS pays Citi for the assets. “At completion, I don’t think the book will move very much,” she added.
Citi Consumer Taiwan has 2.7 million credit cards, 500,000 deposit and wealth customers and 45 branches. This acquisition deal is expected to close in mid-2023.
Citi Consumer Taiwan is expected to contribute $184 million to DBS’ annual net profit
Piyush Gupta CEO of DBS Group said “Notwithstanding COVID-19, we believe that Asia’s long-term growth trends remain intact. Citi Consumer Taiwan is a highly attractive, high-returns business that is expected to contribute at least S$250 million ($184 million) annually in net profit to DBS after COVID-19 recovery. Post-transaction, DBS Taiwan will be propelled to the top ranks of Taiwan’s banking sector”.
“The acquisitions we have made since the start of the pandemic have given us a platform to build meaningful scale in some of our core markets. This acquisition is no exception,” he added.
The bank is funding this purchase with excess capital. This acquisition will have no impact on its ability to pay dividends. DBS plans to invest S$2.2 billion ($1.62 billion) into this unit out of which S$1.2 billion will be utilised as capital to support the incremental risk-weighted assets and capital needs. Morgan Stanley is the financial adviser for DBS Bank on this transaction.
Citi announced last year that it would exit the retail operations in 13 markets in Asia, as it refocuses on a more lucrative institutional wealth management business.
Early this year, Citi sold its consumer business in four Southeast Asian markets to United Overseas Bank for about S$5 billion ($3.68 billion).
Peter Babej, CEO of Citi Asia Pacific said, “For Citi, this transaction will enable additional investment in our strategic focus areas, including our institutional businesses in Taiwan, which remains a priority market for our firm”.
Lim Him Chuan, general manager of DBS Taiwan said, “Citi Consumer Taiwan is highly complementary to us given its high-quality wealth management business as well as huge credit card customer base with a high activation rate and spending level. We believe that with this proposed acquisition, we will create synergy and further provide best-in-class consumer banking products and services to customers, leveraging DBS’ digital strengths. This acquisition marks another significant milestone in DBS’ commitment to the Taiwan market, and we look forward to Citi Consumer Taiwan’s employees joining us”.
For now, Citi will continue to operate Citi Consumer Taiwan until completion with no immediate changes in its way of serving consumers.
DBS also carries the experience to manage complex transactions. In Taiwan, DBS successfully acquired and integrated Australia and New Zealand Banking Group’s (ANZ) wealth management and retail banking business in 2017 and Bowa Commercial Bank in 2008.
Apart from Taiwan, the bank has also acquired and integrated Societe Generale’s Asian Wealth Management Business in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Dubai in 2014 and ANZ’s wealth management and retail banking business in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Mainland China and Indonesia in 2017 and 2018. In 2020, Lakshmi Vilas Bank was amalgamated with DBS Bank India, significantly enhancing its digital strategy.
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