Axis Bank completes acquisition of Citibank's retail biz for Rs 11,603 cr

Axis Bank has completed the acquisition of Citibank's retail business in India which was announced first in March last year, for a final cash consideration of Rs 11,603 crore. The third-largest private sector bank said a total of 2.4 million Citi customers in the country have consented to bank with Axis Bank after the deal, as against 3 million at the time of announcing the deal. 96 per cent or 3,200 of the Citi employees have joined the bank now.

The sale excludes Citi's institutional client businesses in India.

The entire integration will happen over the next 18 months, managing director and chief executive Amitabh Chaudhry said, adding that there will be a hit of Rs 1,500 crore to be taken as implementation costs which will be amortised as the costs are incurred.

Chaudhry said the bank account details, cheque books, product benefits and privileges, debit card details will be the same for the Citi customers who are joining as Axis Bank customers.

Axis Bank is the fourth-largest issuer of credit cards with a total base of 8.6 million cards and the deal will add about 2.5 million credit cardholders, making it one of the top three card businesses in the country.

In April 2021, American banking major Citigroup announced its plan to exit from the consumer banking business in India as part of its global strategy. The business comprises credit cards, retail banking, home loans and wealth management. The bank has 35 branches in the country and employs about 4,000 people in the consumer banking business.

Last year, Axis Bank agreed to purchase Citibank's India Consumer Business from Citibank NA (acting through its branch in India) and the NBFC Consumer Business from Citicorp Finance (India) Limited (CFIL), as going concerns, without values being assigned to individual assets and liabilities to either business.