Citi franchises boost UOB’s Asean ambitions

UOB’s acquisition of Citi’s consumer assets in four southeast Asia markets strengthens its status in one of the world’s fastest growing regions. The Singapore lender’s CEO Wee Ee Cheong talks to Euromoney about why this matters and what comes next.

When Citi set out plans in April 2021 to exit retail banking in 13 markets, most of them in Asia, it caused quite a stir. But when, nine months later, the US bank said it would sell four of those consumer franchises, all of them in southeast Asia, to Singapore’s United Overseas Bank for around S$4.9 billion ($3.6 billion), no one was surprised.