Citi has completed the sale and full migration of its Indonesian consumer businesses to UOB Indonesia, while Singapore-based fintech unicorn Nium has partnered South Korea’s Jeonbuk Bank to launch global remittance services.
Citi hands over consumer banking businesses to UOB Indonesia
Citi has completed the sale and full migration of its Indonesian consumer businesses to UOB Indonesia (UOBI). The said businesses include retail banking, credit card, unsecured lending businesses, as well as the transfer of employees.
This transaction is expected to result in a regulatory capital benefit to Citi of approximately $1.1 billion.
The sale doesn’t include the bank’s institutional businesses and Citi continues to serve institutional clients in Indonesia locally, regionally, and globally.
Citi and UOB announced the transaction in January as part of a broader sale agreement covering consumer banking across Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia. The US bank plans to exit consumer banking across 14 markets in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Mexico. To date, Citi has closed sales in nine markets, namely Australia, Bahrain, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
The banking giant is also in the process of winding down consumer businesses in China and Korea, as well as its overall presence in Russia.
Citi also plans to pursue an IPO of its consumer, small business, and middle market banking operations in Mexico, and it has restarted the exit process for the consumer banking business in Poland.
Nium partners Jeonbuk Bank for global remittance services
Singapore-based fintech unicorn Nium has partnered with South Korea-based Jeonbuk Bank to launch global remittance services.
The service is targeted at 2.5 million non-Koreans who live in South Korea, providing affordable and reliable global payment solutions to this community, according to a release.
“South Korea is experiencing significant growth in its non-Korean resident population, and we look to them to boost economic growth. We are proud to partner with a global leader, such as Nium, to develop various banking products, from loans to real-time remittance services for immigrants in South Korea,” said Hyunkwun Oh, deputy CEO at Jeonbuk Bank.
Nium holds regulatory licenses and authorizations in more than 40 countries. The company has also been laying the groundwork for a US listing for a while aiming to go public in the second quarter of 2025.