Citibank Korea unveils strategic shift toward corporate banking

Citigroup’s Korean unit Citibank Korea unveiled its strategy to focus on corporate banking at a town hall meeting held last week in Seoul, the bank said Thursday.

According to the bank, the new strategy aims to enhance corporate banking capabilities, increase synergy among its core businesses, and protect customers during the wind-down process of its retail banking divisions. The bank said last October that it will shut down its consumer banking units and focus more on its corporate customers as part of the group’s reorganization plan on its Asia Pacific business.

The bank stressed treasury and trade solutions, securities services, capital markets, corporate banking and commercial banking as the key five strategic areas.

The bank’s new strategy is also committed to ramping up sustainable management focused on environmental, social and governance factors, according to officials. The bank’s ESG council will emerge as a key player in increasing ESG financing and solution development for corporate clients, and expanding partnerships with ESG stakeholders, they added.

The bank has attracted new corporate clients since October, offering them a wide range of products including commodity hedging, overseas remittance, and global cash management solutions.

The bank said it would use its well established global networks to provide local companies with support in overseas sales and investments, while helping them expand their presence in fast-growing future sectors, such as the digital and biotech industries.

“It is time for change and challenge, as well as recovery and renewal. I am firmly convinced that we can successfully navigate this transformative period for sustainable growth,” said Citibank Korea CEO Yoo Myung-soon during the town hall meeting.

By Lee Seung-ku (seungku99@heraldcorp.com)