2 Moves That Show Citigroup's Progress on Its 'Strategy Refresh'
When Jane Fraser took over as chief executive of Citigroup (NYSE: C) earlier this year, she vowed to correct long-standing deficiencies at the bank and boost returns through what she called a "strategy refresh." She hasn't wasted much time. So far, Fraser has announced that Citigroup will exit 13 global consumer banking franchises that don't have the scale to compete, and focus more on global wealth management. Fraser and her team have also said they plan to double down on existing businesses that already put up strong returns, like investment banking.
Fraser has only been in charge for about six months, but there is already evidence that the refresh is moving forward. Here are two moves that show the bank's progress.
In early August, Citigroup announced it was selling its Australian consumer banking franchise to National Australia Bank. The segment includes roughly $9 billion of deposits and $12.2 billion of loans consisting of $7.9 billion in residential mortgages and $4.3 billion in unsecured loans. The Australian banking franchise was one of the 13 markets Citigroup had pledged to exit, largely because they were inefficient and didn't have the scale to compete. Australia is certainly one of the largest units slated for sale, if not the very largest, accounting for $12 billion of those markets' combined $82 billion in assets.
Source Fool.com
