Citigroup Plans To Exit Egypt

Mzwandile Jacks Business, Finance/Money, Strategies & Solutions

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VENTURES AFRICA – North Africa’s biggest economy, Egypt has joined the growing list of country that Citigroup, the third biggest US lender, plans to exit as it reduces the number of global markets it has operations in, it emerged late on Tuesday.
“I am committed to simplifying our company and allocating our finite resources to where we can generate the best returns for our shareholders,” CEO Michael Corbat told Reuters.
But Citi said it will continue to be of services to its institutional businesses in Egypt.
Other countries that Citi wants to
exit include six Latin American countries, Japan, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Guam.
The bank is trimming its consumer business because it wants to return to its original structure of concentrating on business clients. The bank has operations in almost 100 states throughout the globe.
Citigroup posted a 13 percent surge in third-quarter net profit, thanks improved results from its struggling assets. According to Reuters, the third quarter net profit soared to $3.67 billion from $3.26 billion from 12 months earlier.
The investment bank’s stock price was on a tear on the back of the news, gaining 2.2 percent to $51.01 in early trading on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s GDP growth rate increased in the fourth quarter from 2.5 percent to 3.7 percent, the government said earlier this week, Reuters reported. This is the latest indication that confidence is coming back to an economy that has been hit hard by political turmoil since 2011 when dictator, Hosni Mubarak, was deposed.