UnionBank of the Philippines announced today that it has completed the acquisition of Citi’s consumer banking business in the Philippines.
Ana A. Delgado, Chief Customer Experience Officer and Chief Digital Channel Officer, said, ”This acquisition accelerates our goal of becoming a great consumer bank in the Philippines with one of the most diversified consumer banking portfolios among the listed banks today. With the acquisition of the Citi consumer business, we are now strong across three consumer businesses, namely: credit cards, salary / personal loans and mortgage loans”
Edwin R. Bautista, President and Chief Executive Officer of UnionBank, highlighted that, “I cannot over emphasize how this is a game changer for UnionBank, its customers and its employees. We are now a much larger consumer bank. We added a consumer portfolio that is well-run and very profitable. This will provide us better margins and allow us to maintain our industry-leading ROE moving forward. Over 1,500 top talents from Citi, including its Senior Management Team, will be joining UnionBank. This further deepens our leadership bench. I am confident that, together, we will be able to bring the best customer experience and serve many more market segments and communities through innovation and collaboration”
Ms. Delgado added, “The synergies across both organizations will allow us to unlock tremendous value by enriching our customer proposition and elevating customer engagement. As we work to bring new and exciting products and services to our customers, we are committed to ensuring that the same level of experience will continue for the 1 million customers that are moving to UnionBank. To deliver on this commitment, we have set-up a dedicated integration team and are working closely with Citi to ensure a smooth transition.”
UnionBank is the 7th largest publicly-listed bank in the Philippines and is widely recognized as the leading digitally transformed and most innovative bank in the industry. With the Citi consumer portfolio, UnionBank will become part of the top 3 credit cards issuers in terms of usage and spends.
The transaction will be effected via (i) an asset and liability transfer of the consumer banking activities of Citibank, N.A., Philippines Branch, (ii) the sale of the shares in Citicorp Financial Services and Insurance Brokerage Philippines, Inc., and (iii) and the sale of the real estate shares in Citibank Square building in Eastwood, Quezon City.
The total cash consideration is based on the net assets of the Citi Philippines consumer banking business plus a premium of Php 45.3 billion. Based on the closing statement as of 30 June 2022, the net asset value of the business was at Php 26.71 billion.
