Citigroup Bets Big on Digital Banking

By WSJ City 

In the lean years following the financial crisis, Citigroup made an unintentional bet on the future of banking. It's starting to pay off.

KEY FACTS

--- Citigroup shrank its footprint, focusing on a handful of big cities to right itself after its near-collapse.

--- At the same time, Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase were gobbling up cheap deposits at thousands of US branches.

--- Now Citi execs are convinced many US consumers are finally ready to leave the branch behind and embrace digital banking.

--- Citi added roughly $1bn in digital deposits in Q1, more than in the whole of 2018.

--- The bank has recently reorganised its consumer unit and rolled out a new account through its app aimed at credit-card customers.

Why This Matters

Other big banks are ramping up their digital offerings too, but they are doing it alongside their giant branch networks. Citigroup is wagering that many of those locations--more than 4,000 each for JP Morgan and Bank of America--will become burdensome. Still, Citigroup has a lot of ground to cover to reach its rivals.

A fuller story is available on WSJ.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 13, 2019 07:27 ET (11:27 GMT)

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