India's best international bank 2018: Citi
Pramit Jhaveri, Citi
When Asiamoney asked a handful of senior bankers at domestic firms in India to suggest the best international bank in the country, their response was almost unanimous. When Asiamoney posed the same question to international banks in India, they didn't mince their words either. Citi dominates the Indian market among international banks.
Be it consumer banking, corporate and investment banking or commercial banking, Citi stands apart.
Its annualized new premium growth in the consumer-banking arm last financial year was 17% higher than in 2016. It boasts 1.2 million retail customers and 1.8 million credit card customers as of March 2017 – and increased its consumer banking revenues by around 31% over the last four years.
It has also more than embraced the shift to digital banking. Over 35% of the lender's cards are acquired digitally, while digital payments account for nearly 90% of total card payments received by the bank. On the commercial banking side, Citi caters to more than 3,000 clients and has extended about $3 billion of credit.
That's not all. The investment banking team has been firing on all cylinders. Citi completed 17 debt capital markets transactions as a bookrunner last year, giving it a 3.1% market share, up from the 2.7% market share it had in 2016, according to Dealogic.
It ruled India's equity capital markets in 2017, ranking first on the bookrunner league table with credits of $3.26 billion through 22 transactions and a hefty 10.6% market share.
Its M&A franchise was also strong, with the bank involved in seven announced transactions worth $8.6 billion versus nine deals for about half that amount in 2016.
The numbers show that the bank is doing things right in the country. Citi India, under the leadership of chief executive Pramit Jhaveri, reported a profit after tax of $559 million for the year ending March 31, 2017, an increase of 12.1% over the year. Profit before tax was $954 million, up 7.1%. It's a worthy winner of the best international bank award in India.
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