Within a month’s time, it is found that another foreign bank is looking at exiting the Indian market. On April 15, Citi Group announced that it is existing 13 markets including India. According to the ET report, South Africa's second-largest bank FirstRand Bank is looking at leaving India for good.
FirstRand Bank has been attempting to build a local franchise in the country for over 12 years now. It is a licensed financial services provider in India and a fully-fledged branch of FirstRand Bank Limited South Africa.
The news report stated the plan of closing India business was informed via a video conference on Tuesday to FirstRand’s staff. This was confirmed to ET by the CEO Rohit Wahi too. He shared a statement confirming the shut down of its only branch in Mumbai and a retreat into a limited representative office.
Meanwhile, American multinational investment bank and financial services Citigroup shut their retail banking operations in 13 countries including India and China. This move by Citi Group was part of an ongoing strategic review which will allow Citi to direct investments and resources to the businesses where it has the greatest scale and growth potential.
