Citigroup, Inc (NYSE: C) may have a purchaser for its credit card portfolio in Citibank Pakistan, according to a report from The News.
Habib Bank has expressed interest in purchasing the credit card portfolio of Citibank Pakistan, which has cut back on its retail operations during the last several years.
“Officials from Habib Bank are carrying out valuation of the credit card portfolio these days,” said an official close to the development to The News. “But itís too early to say if the deal will go through.”
Habib Bank would receive a portfolio of about 60,000 card holders. Habib Bank would come out well out of the deal, getting a book of customers with solid credit history, noting that Citibank had already cleared its portfolio of risky loans.
Arif Usmani, the Citibank’s country officer, confirmed that a bank was carrying out valuation of his bank’s credit card portfolio. Usmani said that the portfolio would not necessarily be sold to the Habib Bank.
“Citibank has gone through a bad patch. But I am convinced that we will make a comeback in consumer financing,” he said. “For now, we are providing corporate and investment banking services to a number of clients.”
“Credit card portfolio had grown by an average of 10.2 percent since its launch in 1994,” Usmani said in an interview with The News last year. “In last few years, the annual growth has been between 30 and 35 percent.”
