Citigroup is the latest foreign bank to jump into Thailand. The American bank has snapped up a major portfolio from a domestic lender.
Citibank will acquire Tisco Bank’s unsecured personal loans portfolio and credit card business, the U.S. bank said in a statement on Wednesday. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
The move is emblematic of how wealth managers which are well-established in Singapore and Hong Kong are now pushing into other Southeast Asian markets where wealth is growing quickly. Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines are targets.
Puny vs Powerful
Citi said it plans to seal the deal in two steps: it will take on Tisco's loans in the second quarter, and then its credit card portfolio before year-end. The Thailand deal volume – more than $150 million in receivables and roughly 130,000 accounts – represents a drop in the bucket for Citi, which has 16 million credit card accounts in Asia.
Julius Baer recently jumped in to the Thai market establishing a joint venture with Siam Commercial Bank, as finews.asia reported. Rivals like Credit Suisse set up operations two years ago and Lombard Odier partnered with Kasikornbank, a domestic player.
