Citibank Korea named best foreign commercial bank in Korea

Citibank Korea has been named the best foreign commercial bank in Korea in this year’s Country Awards for FinanceAsia, a Hong Kong-based financial magazine, the bank said Wednesday.

The New York-based banking group’s unit in Korea bagged the award eight times over the last 10 years.

FinanceAsia cited the bank’s “level of soundness” in capital adequacy, “robust growth” in the wealth management business and in card business, as well as “excellence in the customer service field through digital platforms.”

As of the end of 2016, Citibank Korea posted Bank for International Settlement capital ratio of 18.37 percent and a Tier-1 capital ratio of 17.85 percent. 

A week prior, Citibank Korea ended the lingering dispute surrounding consolidation of 126 brick-and-mortar branches across the nation. Citibank Korea and the labor union signed an agreement to leave 36 branches -- 11 wealth management centers and 25 consumer banking centers -- 10 more from the bank‘s initial plan on Friday.

Along with the decision, the bank unveiled the plan to turn all 347 contract positions permanent, as well as to encourage its staff to be released from work at 5 p.m.

By Son Ji-hyoung (consnow@heraldcorp.com)