US banking titan Citigroup has decided to withdraw from the French retail banking arena completely next year after systematically scaling back its operations in the country.
According to the Financial Times, Citigroup, the world’s largest bank, has taken the decision to exit the French market because the environment is just too tough to compete in.
The French retail banking market is dominated by three major players: BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole and Societe Generale.
Although at its height Citigroup operated 30 branches in France, it will now remove its French presence by closing its last branch on the Champs-Elysees in Paris by next spring, the Financial Times says.
We want to exit this activity because we lacked critical mass, and we have been losing money at it for decades, Jean-Claude Gruffat, head of French, Belgian and Luxembourg activities for Citigroup, told the newspaper.
The decision comes exactly 100 years after Citigroup first entered the French banking sector. However the US firm said it intends to continue to forge ahead with its commercial and investment banking ventures in France.