Citibank Taiwan Ltd (花旗台灣) began its integration effort following its acquisition of Bank of Overseas Chinese (BOOC, 華僑銀行) by opening its first Citigold Wealth Management center yesterday in Jhongli (中壢), Taoyuan County.
Citibank acquired BOOC last December after a NT$13.9 billion (US$457 million) cash buyout, after the US banking giant was attracted to the 1 million additional customers that BOOC could bring to it.
Citigold is a global initiative to increase Citibank’s worldwide wealth management services and Jhongli is the first of BOOC’s 55 branches in Taiwan to have a Citigold center.
“The Jhongli location was chosen for its close proximity to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and for its heritage in commerce. With the government redevelopment, we expect Jhongli to become a thriving community. After all, Jhongli was where name brand companies such as Kuai Kuai Co (乖乖), Kimlan Foods Ltd (金蘭食品) and Wei Chuan Foods Corp (味全食品) were founded” Victor Kuan (管國霖), country business manager of Citibank, said at the launch yesterday.
Citibank has transferred its focus from its credit card business to wealth management in recent years in light of a declining credit card market and falling profitability.
Financial Supervisory Commission data showed Citibank ranked No. 3 in the first five months of the year with accumulated earnings before interest and taxes of NT$7.24 billion, behind First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) with NT$7.9 billion and Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中國信託商銀) with NT$7.6 billion.
The minimum account opening amount for a Citigold account is NT$3 million, Kuan said.
“There are already 10,000 existing BOOC customers in Jhongli who meet this requirement. Our goal is to service them first, rather than to expand the customer base,” he said.
At the Jhongli center there will be six financial advisers to service individual wealth management clients and two financial advisers to service corporate wealth management clients. The cost of the face-lift at the center was said to be “way more than NT$20 million” by Kuan.
Citibank plans to keep all of BOOC’s 55 outlets in their current locations for now. If relocation is required, that location would be within the same city, the bank said.
As Citibank continues to integrate BOOC, Kuan hopes to have 10 more renovations (including Citigold centers) and two relocations completed by the end of this year.
Meanwhile, Citibank Taiwan is also introducing a Pre-Arrangement Banking Service, which is a call center for Taiwanese clients who are traveling abroad for business or study and have queries regarding opening overseas accounts.
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