Citigroup is planning to put its British online bank Egg Banking on sale, as part of its strategy to shed $800bn non-core assets within its portfolio.
The sale, which is expected to begin in September, could attract bids from Spain’s Santander and Tesco’s Metro Bank. Egg is expected to get a price tag of around GBP500m.
Citigroup acquired Egg from British insurer Prudential for GBP575m just before the beginning of banking crisis in 2007.
In a statement, Citigroup said: “Citi’s strategy is to reduce the assets and businesses within Citi Holdings, its portfolio of non-core operating businesses and assets, in an economically rational manner while working to generate long-term profitability and growth from Citicorp, its core franchise,” reported the news paper.
The US government owns about 18% stake in Citi following a series of bail-outs during the financial crisis and regulators have been putting pressure on Citi to reduce non-core assets to spruce its balance sheet.