Citigroup has announced plans to sell its Japanese retail banking business in Japan to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., USA Today reports.
"This decision furthers Citi's global strategy of focusing our resources where we feel we have a competitive advantage, which includes our Institutional Clients Group businesses in Japan," Citibank Japan's chief executive officer Peter Eliot said, according to the newspaper.
"Citi has been in Japan since 1902 and it is an important market for Citi."
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. is one of Japan's largest multinational banking organization. It was founded in 1996 and is currently ranked as the second largest bank in the country.
Although Citigroup did not immediately disclose a value for the deal, it was revealed that negotiations will come to a close late next year. The company also mentioned that Citibank customers will still be able to use its parent company's global banking networks following the sale.
It will affect a total of 740,000 customer accounts and about 2.5 trillion yen worth of domestic- and foreign-currency accounts, USA Today also reports.
Financial analysts have frequently commented on Japan's tough banking environment, of which many foreign companies have already abandoned. Hostile interest rates and currency deposits have been commonly cited as reasons for the above mentioned.
