Citigroup has agreed to sell its Japanese retail banking operations to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp (SMBC), one of Japan’s three mega-banks, as the US bank retreats from unprofitable businesses around the world, AsiaFirst reported. The deal, whose acquisition price was not disclosed, includes 740,000 customer accounts and about $21b worth of domestic- and foreign-currency accounts. Citigroup also said its entire retail banking operations in Japan will be transferred to a subsidiary of SMBC. The deal includes Citi’s retail branches and ATMs. Citi also said that even after the sale, Citibank customers will still be able to use Citi’s global banking.
