A man passes a Citibank bank branch in San Francisco on Tuesday//Photo: Bloomberg

 

Citigroup Inc plans to exit retail banking in 13 markets across Asia, and the region of Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

 

The bank would instead operate its consumer-banking franchise in both regions from four wealth centers in Singapore, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and London, it said yesterday in a statement.

 

The move is part of an ongoing review of the company’s strategy by chief executive officer Jane Fraser, who took over last month.

 

Full story: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2021/04/16/2003755788

 

-- © Copyright Taipe Times 2021-04-17

 

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Citi also shopping around their retail banking business in Australia.

There goes my credit card. Guess it’ll have to be a Thai bank then. Don’t think there’s any other western bank left. I’m wondering whether they would provide equally superb customer service in a dispute case as I received from Citi. 

Sucks! I will miss the privilege of being able to withdraw money from Citibank ATMs in South East Asia free of charge ????

CitiBank told me that their ATM's in Bangkok will remain available. There are some 24 hour ATM's outside at Interchange 21 building. But for how long?

Wondering who will take over their credit card business. Citibank has possibly the most civilized customer base and provides the latter with an excellent customer service because they screen applications properly. 

I, for one, will regret them leaving ???? 

7 hours ago, webfact said:

The bank would instead operate its consumer-banking franchise in both regions from four wealth centers in Singapore, Hong Kong, ...

Maybe we can become clients of the Singapore branch when the change actually happens? ...

5 hours ago, cocoonclub said:

There goes my credit card. Guess it’ll have to be a Thai bank then. Don’t think there’s any other western bank left. I’m wondering whether they would provide equally superb customer service in a dispute case as I received from Citi. 

 

2 hours ago, Sydebolle said:

Wondering who will take over their credit card business. Citibank has possibly the most civilized customer base and provides the latter with an excellent customer service because they screen applications properly. 

I, for one, will regret them leaving ???? 

I have had a Citi credit card for over 20 years (Australian issued) and would agree with your comments on customer service until recently. They changed the Aus call center to the Philippines using VOIP that they meant they could not transfer calls from one department to an other if you called them on VOIP.

They also "mislaid" my charge back request when flights were cancelled due to Covid last year.

Prior to that they were excellent.

1 hour ago, GreasyFingers said:

They changed the Aus call center to the Philippines using VOIP that they meant they could not transfer calls from one department to an other if you called them on VOIP.

I only had one dispute (fortunately) but that one they handled to my satisfaction. Not sure if the agent was sitting abroad; at first I thought so because of her good English, but I think she later told me her name which was a Thai name.
 

The whole process took several weeks because they were brokering between me and the merchant, but they pretty quickly issued a refund in the beginning and left the refund on my card until the dispute was fully dissolved.

 

I don’t have experience with a credit card from a Thai bank, so I don’t wanna wrong them, but somehow I have my doubts whether things would go as smoothly, customer-friendly and English-speaking (part of the reason for my dispute was that the merchant, one of the big electronics retailers, simply didn’t have anyone speaking  enough English to understand what the issue is, and I think that’s also why no one really called me back or followed up on the issue, so in the end I refused to entertain this any longer and asked Citi for a refund/dispute process instead). 

A HSBC repeat from decade ago. 

 

 

Why have they been opening up small retail centers in the malls and such just recently if they are going to stop serving the Area.  I saw a new one going in at the Rama 9 Mall 3 weeks ago, and they even had a desk set-up in the MRT station with some pretty little fillies at Phyayothin MRT where they were trying to get people to open up new credit card called the Citi-Preferred just 2 weeks ago when I was out that way for a Kindergarten graduation of a friends daughter.

7 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Why have they been opening up small retail centers in the malls and such just recently if they are going to stop serving the Area. 

Because the one is a country management decision and the other a corporate one. 

You won't be missed (by me anyway), banksters. Bye.

I bank with Citibank in Hong Kong, Singapore and New York -- and I worked for Citi for ten years in the 80s/90s. 

 

But in Thailand I have used a Krungsri Visa since 2012, and can recommend it highly for anyone looking for a Citi alternative.

Krungsri credit card customer service has been impeccable (and their call centre English language capability is superb).   Their approval process is robust and reliable (including domestic or international online transactions).  Bill payments are credited instantly to the account.  I must say I've not had any problems with my card in all those years. 

I also use Krungsri for my banking needs and find that excellent too (apart from the normal paperwork requirements if you ever need to go to a branch, which is rarely for me).  Their technology is solid, and a pleasure to use.

2 hours ago, VirgoSG said:

I bank with Citibank in Hong Kong, Singapore and New York -- and I worked for Citi for ten years in the 80s/90s. 

 

But in Thailand I have used a Krungsri Visa since 2012, and can recommend it highly for anyone looking for a Citi alternative.

Krungsri credit card customer service has been impeccable (and their call centre English language capability is superb).   Their approval process is robust and reliable (including domestic or international online transactions).  Bill payments are credited instantly to the account.  I must say I've not had any problems with my card in all those years. 

I also use Krungsri for my banking needs and find that excellent too (apart from the normal paperwork requirements if you ever need to go to a branch, which is rarely for me).  Their technology is solid, and a pleasure to use.

 

They seem nice as long as you pay your bills. 

 

How's your experience when it comes to charge backs or fraudulent transactions? 

21 hours ago, Pravda said:

How's your experience when it comes to charge backs or fraudulent transactions? 

I had one fraud transaction only, plus one or two charge backs.  All handled efficiently by Krungsri.

On 4/18/2021 at 9:30 AM, Pravda said:

 

They seem nice as long as you pay your bills. 

 

How's your experience when it comes to charge backs or fraudulent transactions? 

My partner and I have each had one fraudulent charge on our card accounts, and received instant credits after emailing or messaging the details (can't recall the reporting media they use)