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Context is everything.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
An RBI report from January 2021 points to problems at the foreign bank’s India operations, adding uncertainty to a deal that is already complicated.
Editor's note: The Reserve Bank of India pulled up Citibank India over its asset quality and business practices just months prior to the bank putting its retail business on the block. On 27 January 2021, the RBI asked Citibank India to improve its “hygiene” in opening current accounts and said it had observed “deficiencies” in the “identification” of non-performing assets, along with certain other shortcomings, according to the confidential risk mitigation plan shared with the foreign bank along with the RBI’s risk assessment report for the 2019-20 fiscal year. The Morning Context has accessed the risk mitigation plan, containing a synopsis of the report’s findings and suggestions on corrective measures. Citibank put its India retail business on sale in mid-April 2021. That business was picked up, after a year-long process, by Axis Bank for $1.6 billion in a deal announced on 30 March this year. Insiders at the New York-headquartered bank suggest that these observations could have had a material impact on the business at the time of the sale. That, in turn, raises fresh doubts on how the deal with Axis …
An RBI report from January 2021 points to problems at the foreign bank’s India operations, adding uncertainty to a deal that is already complicated.
Editor's note: The Reserve Bank of India pulled up Citibank India over its asset quality and business practices just months prior to the bank putting its retail business on the block. On 27 January 2021, the RBI asked Citibank India to improve its “hygiene” in opening current accounts and said it had observed “deficiencies” in the “identification” of non-performing assets, along with certain other shortcomings, according to the confidential risk mitigation plan shared with the foreign bank along with the RBI’s risk assessment report for the 2019-20 fiscal year. The Morning Context has accessed the risk mitigation plan, containing a synopsis of the report’s findings and suggestions on corrective measures. Citibank put its India retail business on sale in mid-April 2021. That business was picked up, after a year-long process, by Axis Bank for $1.6 billion in a deal announced on 30 March this year. Insiders at the New York-headquartered bank suggest that these observations could have had a material impact on the business at the time of the sale. That, in turn, raises fresh doubts on how the deal with Axis …
The central bank’s shift to a 100% collateral requirement threatens to erode leverage, reduce volumes and force a consolidation across prop desks.
Atanu Chakraborty’s resignation does not appear as damaging as the bank’s response to it. The ‘all is well’ narrative needs an independent audit.
While the earnings have been encouraging, the real challenge lies in addressing the slowing deposit growth and leadership uncertainty.
The central bank’s shift to a 100% collateral requirement threatens to erode leverage, reduce volumes and force a consolidation across prop desks.
Atanu Chakraborty’s resignation does not appear as damaging as the bank’s response to it. The ‘all is well’ narrative needs an independent audit.
While the earnings have been encouraging, the real challenge lies in addressing the slowing deposit growth and leadership uncertainty.
