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China market commitment strong, Citi local head says

By Wang Bo (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-30 08:52

Andrew Au

Though Citigroup was in the process of disposing of its non-core assets globally, the bank's commitment to growing in China has never wavered, Andrew Au, chief executive of Citi China, said in an interview with China Daily.

"Within the bank's global landscape, China is a recognized top priority market, which we were extremely focused on throughout the difficult times," he said.

The New York-based banking giant, which is under pressure to lead its way out of the financial troubles that has left it one-third owned by the US government, created the Citicorp division to concentrate on its core strength of global institutional and consumer banking businesses, after divesting its non-core business and risky assets into Citi Holdings.

"This would not interrupt our business operation in China, because our business here already falls within Citicorp," the CEO told China Daily at Citi China's headquarters in Shanghai.

Au's remarks echoed group chief executive Vikram Pandit's declaration earlier this month that he hoped to continue expanding the bank's business in China, one of the biggest engines of growth in Asia.

As Citi's business in its home soil remained weak, Asia has increasingly become an important source of income for the bank. In the second quarter of this year, the Asia-Pacific region contributed about 38 percent to Citicorp's net income.

Au claimed that Citi China had performed very well during the financial crisis and was extremely "well-capitalized" and "liquid" at present, refuting suggestions that the bank might not be faring well as its parent company was still grappling with financial troubles.

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Citi China has seen its business expanding rapidly in the country ever since it set up the locally incorporated unit in 2007. Last year, the bank's operating income jumped 46 percent year-on-year, while net income surged 95 percent from a year ago to touch 1.3 billion yuan.

The bank is now operating in eight cities through its 27 consumer banking outlets and a new branch is expected to open in western China's Chongqing before the end of this year. Au said that the bank would continue to open more branches within the country.

"We are now focusing on serving our customers well through our international network in over 100 countries and markets, and bring in more innovative products so that our customers can see real value in our services," he said.

Citi China, together with other foreign lenders, have largely sat out the lending binge in the first half of this year, which is partly due to the difference in customer base between foreign banks and their Chinese peers, according to Au.

As the export and import markets shrank at the end of last year and toward the beginning of this year, credit demand by customers in this sector, which tend to use foreign banks, was impacted, he said.

However, Au noted that the bank was not overly reliant on lending as it was well balanced across different product lines.

"We have a balanced mix of business in China. If one business goes down, it is generally offset by growth in other segments," he said.