Citigroup is used to getting its own way, so its recent travails in China must be painful. It made its China move earlier than its rivals, most conspicuously HSBC, by buying a 4.62% interest in Shanghai Pudong Development Bank in 2003. But Citigroup has failed to capitalize on its head start, despite strenuous claims to the contrary.
One statistic tells the story. Citigroup’s credit card joint venture with SPDB, the key reason for its original investment, boasts 300,000 jointly issued cards. In a little less than a quarter of that time, HSBC’s credit card business with its partner Bank of Communications, China’s fifth-largest...
