US bank Citi completes sale of Taiwan consumer unit to Singapore's DBS

By Selena Li

HONG KONG (Reuters) - U.S. bank Citigroup has completed the sale and migration of its Taiwan consumer businesses to Singapore's DBS Group, it said on Monday.

The now transferred retail business includes retail banking, credit card, mortgage and unsecured lending businesses, as well as the transfer of close to 3,000 employees. The transaction is expected to release $1.2 billion in capital that was previously committed under local regulatory requirements.

Citi's institutional business in Taiwan was excluded from the sale.

Citi has signed sales agreements for consumer units in nine markets and closed sales in seven other markets in addition to Taiwan: Australia, Bahrain, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The lender plans to complete the sale of the ninth consumer unit in Indonesia later this year.

Citi, in a major strategy shift, has said it plans to exit consumer banking across 14 markets globally.

(Reporting by Selena Li; Editing by Tom Hogue)