On January 31st, Blue Whale Finance learned from within the industry that Citigroup announced the appointment of Lu Xuan as the President of Citigroup China, responsible for Citigroup China's business development and operational management, promoting customer business strategic relationships, and supervising compliance. At the same time, Lu Xuan also serves as the President and Director of Citibank (China) Limited.
It is understood that Lu Xuan is the successor of Lin Yuhua, who will retire soon. Lu Xuan reports to Wu Yanyi, the President of Citigroup North Asia and Australia.
Lu Xuan is a veteran of Citigroup with 25 years of banking experience in Hong Kong and mainland China. He joined Citigroup in Shanghai in 2002 and held important positions in both the Corporate Banking and Commercial Banking departments. Recently, as the General Manager of the Corporate Banking Department, Lu Xuan led a team to provide services to large leading enterprises. Previously, Lu Xuan served as the President of Citigroup Tianjin Branch and Citigroup Shanghai Branch.
According to public information, Citigroup first entered the Chinese market in 1902, and in 2017, Citigroup became one of the first foreign banks to be allowed to establish local corporate banks. In September 2023, Citigroup China was approved by the Shanghai Futures Exchange and the Shanghai International Energy Trading Center to become a custodian bank for futures deposits on both futures exchanges. This was also the first US funded bank to be approved for this business qualification.
It is worth noting that on January 23, the official website of Citibank China issued an important notice regarding Citibank's personal banking credit card business in mainland China. Starting from May 6, 2024, Citibank China's personal credit card will cease trading functions and will no longer be able to be used for transaction purposes such as consumer payments. At the same time, the bank will gradually cease providing related product rights and services.
It is understood that this change is part of Citigroup's withdrawal from personal banking business in the Chinese market, and Citigroup's corporate business in China will not be affected.
The notice states that Citigroup China has reached an agreement with Fubon Huayi Bank to transfer to it the outstanding credit card installment repayment balance or outstanding amount (accounts receivable rights) that has not been settled since the cessation of Citigroup China's personal bank credit card repayment service. Subsequently, after the deadline of Citibank China's personal credit card repayment service, any outstanding credit card installment repayment balance or outstanding amount involved must be repaid to Fubon Huayi Bank after the agreed time ("delivery date").
In fact, in December 2022, Citigroup announced that it would gradually close its personal banking business in mainland China. And there have been actions taken before the release of credit cards to stop transactions.
On October 9th last year, Citigroup announced the sale of its personal banking wealth management business in mainland China to HSBC Bank (China) Limited, which attracted market attention. HSBC has announced an agreement with Citigroup China to acquire its personal wealth management business in mainland China, covering investment and wealth management assets and personal deposits of Citigroup China's personal wealth management clients in 11 major cities across the country, totaling approximately $3.6 billion (as of August 2023).
Subsequently, Citibank China stated in its statement "Citibank (China) Limited's Statement on Individual False Media Reports" that "Citibank is making strategic adjustments to its personal banking business globally, including gradually closing its personal banking business in mainland China."