Citigroup Inc.’s consumer and commercial banking operations in Russia are in “active dialogue” with possible buyers, according to Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser. In a Bloomberg Television interview at the Milken Institute Global Conference, Fraser remarked, “We’re marketing our consumer and commercial banking franchise on the ground there, and we’re in active discourse about that.”
Citigroup is the most internationally diverse of the United States’ large banks. It offers corporate trade financing and wealth management to billionaires all around the world.
In April 2021, Fraser stated that Citi would sell its Russia consumer unit, as well as a dozen other consumer companies in Asia and EMEA, because they were too tiny to keep. In the recent interview, Fraser also stated that Citigroup will continue to serve multinational enterprises in Russia since they require the bank’s assistance in closing their operations in the country.
Investors were growing anxious that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine — and the accompanying financial penalties imposed on many of Russia’s top institutions — would obstruct Citigroup’s plans to quit the country, which the New York-based lender initially announced last year. Despite the fact that Citigroup is still planning to sell certain units, Fraser stated on Monday that the company still wants to do so.
“You hear the clients there talk about how they don’t trust the western financial order to put all of their eggs in that basket moving ahead,” Fraser said of the Middle East. “They’re going to be looking at other locations. We’ve ceased looking for new clients and business. Our exposures, as well as our business, are definitely reducing” Fraser remarked. “However, you’re the captain who’s the last one to leave the ship.”
On Monday, according to reports in the media, one of Citigroup’s traders made an error during the so-called stock market “flash collapse” in Europe. A flash crash is a rapid drop in the price of one or more assets, typically caused by a trading error. After global stock indices plummeted, trading was briefly halted in numerous places.
Stocks in the Nordic region were hit the worst, although other European indexes also fell for a brief time. “One of our traders made a mistake when entering a deal this morning. We found the mistake and fixed it in a matter of minutes “Late Monday, the New York-based bank issued a statement.
