In the recent past, Citibank India has managed to tide over the global finanical crisis and build a strong business in the country. This is very much in contrast with their global operations, which was badly affected due to the financial crisis. In India, the bank offers an array of products and services like personal banking, NRI banking and corporate banking. Mark T Robinson, CEO, Citi, speaks to FE about his strategies to scale up the bank?s business in India.
How has 2009 been for the bank? Which are the businesses that have done well? And which are the ones Citi will focus on this year?
I would characterise 2009 as a year where we, like the financial services industry, repositioned our businesses to capture the opportunities presented by the growing Indian economy in the years ahead. We drew up a strategic plan with an emphasis on the sectors where we saw our natural strengths. We have successfully completed the exercise and are now poised for the next level of growth. Our businesses are lean and fit to execute with our expansion plans. Much of this is consistent with whatever is happening in Citi globally.
Going forward, we will be growing our securities and banking business and transaction banking business in the Institutional Clients Group.
What will your strategy be in the corporate and retail lending spaces?
We allocate capital based on a careful evaluation of the overall returns on a risk and to this end we review the returns from our asset products and the cross-sell it generates at a firm level. Our retail and corporate lending strategies are driven by this approach. Even during the peak of the global credit crisis, we were open to business and continued to grow assets judiciously in our target segments.
By how much are you looking to grow the balance sheet in 2010?
We are committed to growing our corporate relationships and supporting their funding requirements on balance sheet lending as well as other forms of capital raising. We also remain focused on our key target consumer markets with products and services that bring value to our retail customers. As stated in the past, we continue to go slow on unsecured retail credit including credit cards in non-target segments. ?
Will capital be a constraint for growth? What would be the share of current account savings account in your deposits and the cost of funds? ? ? ? ?
Capital has never been a constraint to our growth in India. Over the last few years, we have consistently retained our earnings and infused close to $1.8 billion capital in the franchise between the bank and other legal vehicles. In addition to the capital that we deploy in our banking business, we are committed to substantial capital for proprietary investments. ?We are among the best capitalised banks in the industry as indeed are our non-bank finance companies, where we consistently meet or exceed the enhanced regulatory guidelines.
Do you plan to set up more branches in India? How many branches does the bank currently operate?
We currently have 42 branches in 30 cities and our branch expansion strategy is predicated on the guidelines that the RBI has in place for foreign banks.
What are your hiring plans for India this year?
Recruiting and nurturing top quality talent has remained unchanged through 2009 and 2010. We continue to hire highly motivated professionals laterally but our main thrust area is hiring from our target campuses to build a talent pipeline for the future. Citi has actively participated in the ongoing final placement season across B-Schools including the IIMs, ISB, and XLRI amongst others with an aim to hire 50-55 students for entry-level positions across the franchise.