Citi to Shut Mexican Consumer, Small Business and Middle Market Banking Units

Citi will get out of the consumer, small business and middle market banking operations of Citibanamex to help focus more on other areas, the company announced Tuesday (Jan. 11).

Instead, the release says it will operate a locally licensed Mexican business, which will see a continuation of the operations in Mexico from the last century. The country will remain strong among Citi’s top institutional non-U.S. markets.

Citi CEO Jane Fraser said, “The decision to exit the consumer, small business and middle-market banking businesses in Mexico is fully aligned with the principles of our strategy refresh — we’ll be able to direct our resources to opportunities aligned with our core strengths and competitive advantages, focus on businesses that benefit from connectivity to our global network, and we will further simplify our bank.”

Fraser continued that Mexico has been a “priority market” for Citi. She added that Mexico is likely to be a “major recipient” for investment from around the globe, along with trade flows, and the company is “confident” about the trajectory.

“Citi is uniquely positioned to support cross-border capital markets activity and trade flows in and out of Mexico for our institutional clients and we will continue to make material investments in our institutional operations and market-leading hub there,” Fraser said.

Citi has also been working on a new policy to do away with workers who haven’t gotten COVID-19 vaccines. As of Jan. 7, employees of the bank who have not been vaccinated would have a week to get a shot or they’d be fired.

Read more: Citigroup to Workers: Get a Shot or Get a New Job

Some employees would be eligible for year-end bonuses, although users will have to sign an agreement banning them from seeking legal action against Citi to get the money.

Around 90% of the bank’s employees have complied so far, with the number still growing.

Citi was one of the stricter Wall Street financial giants for its vaccine policy — others like Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan have still let employees come to work without vaccines.