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Shares of the bank, which has operated in both Argentina and
Brazil for more than 100 years, were nearly flat in premarket
trading on Friday.
The U.S. bank, built with a series of acquisitions spanning back
to the 1980s, has been trying to slim down since the financial
crisis to be as profitable as its rivals.
Citi has been selling retail operations in several countries,
shrinking its branch network and selling non-core businesses
under Chief Executive Michael Corbat.
The Wall Street bank, like its peers, has had to resort to
aggressive cost controls as near-zero interest rates, a slump in
oil prices and investor cautiousness due to worries about
slowing growth in China have hurt its revenue growth.
In the fourth quarter, the bank reported a 17 percent fall in
revenue from LatAm.
"While our consumer businesses in Brazil, Argentina and Colombia
are of high quality, we have decided to focus our efforts on
opportunities with our institutional clients in these countries
and throughout the wider region," Corbat said in a statement on
Friday.
The businesses being sold are a part of its consumer banking
operations and will be transferred to Citi Holdings. The
business will report financial results as part of Citi Holdings
from first quarter, the bank said.
Citi Holdings is the division that holds all non-core assets
that the bank is winding down or selling.
Brazil is in the second year of a severe economic recession,
while the Argentinian economy has been under stress due to
restrictions barring it from accessing international capital
markets for years.
(Reporting by Nikhil Subba and Sweta Singh in Bengaluru; Editing
by Shounak Dasgupta)
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