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Four Citi consumer franchises in Asia for sale

19 January 2009 5:58PM
One twist in Citi's plan is that a number of lower end consumer banking businesses in Asia will be managed under Citi Holdings (the bad bank) and presumably are on the market.This includes the CitiFinancial franchises in each of Japan, India, Thailand and Hong Kong. (Those in Mexico, Brazil and western Europe also fall into this category).The four Asian franchises may be businesses that ANZ will try to buy as the Australian bank pursues its own strategy of becoming a "super regional" bank in Asia.Citi's consumer businesses in Japan reported receivables of US$11 billion at December 2008 while that in India had receivables of US$7.8 billion; Hong Kong, US$4.4 billion, while the bank did not disclose receivables in Thailand.Lending losses on Citi's Japanse consumer loans, at close to 12 per cent of loans, are dire. Losses in India exceed six per cent while those in Hong Kong are not so bad at in excess of three per cent.However, this data may not distinguish between the receivables of the consumer banking businesses in these markets that Citi plans to retain and the "CitiFinancial" receivables that are for sale.Other CitiFinancial franchises in South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan are not listed under Citi Holdings and so presumably remain as part of the wanted consumer business in Asia.ANZ's managing director, Mike Smith, meanwhile is quoted in the Financial Review today talking up the merit of investing in Asian banks at their current, and much reduced, equity valuations."Prices [of banks in Asia] have come right down and our currency is loking quite good again on a price earnings basis compared to Asian banks."

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