Transactions: Citi sells off wealth business in China to HSBC

Citigroup will sell its consumer wealth portfolios in China to HSBC for $3.6 billion, the bank said Monday. The sale, which includes Citi’s clients, assets under management and deposits is part of the bank’s plan to wind down its consumer banking business in China as part of its broader restructuring, Citi said in an Oct. 9 release. [caption id="attachment_57368483" align="alignright" width="300"] Photo by: Vaidik Trivedi [/caption] The $1.7 trillion New York-based bank will continue serving high-net-worth clients in Hong Kong and Singapore through its international personal bank and Citi private bank businesses, the release stated. “We are taking important steps forward in exiting our consumer banking business in China and continue to make progress in our divestitures as part of our strategy to simplify Citi,” Titi Cole , head of legacy franchises at Citigroup, said in the release. Since Jane Faser took over as the chief executive in March 2021, Citi has been reducing its footprint across 14 locations including the Middle East, Malaysia, Australia and Taiwan. For example, the bank sold its consumer banking business in India to Axis Bank in March for $1.4 billion and is exploring a sale of its Mexico operations to simplify the firm’s operations and deliver value to the shareholders, according to the release. Everwise expands relationship with Constellation Digital Partners Everwise Credit Union is expanding its relationship with digital banking service provider Constellation Digital Partners to rebrand its online presence and enhance customer experience. The $9.7 billion Everwise, previously known as Teachers Credit Union , rebranded in June to send a message that it is open for everyone and not just teachers, according to the credit union’s Sept. 19 release. The South Bend, Ind.-based credit union will use Constellation’s online and mobile applications to provide customers with digital banking channels, according to the release. Everwise has seen a 20% increase in active users since launching its digital banking experience in June 2022 with Constellation’s platform, the release stated. “We believe credit unions are frustrated with their legacy provider’s inability to support their members’ needs in an agile manner and are seeking partnerships with fintechs,” Kris Kovacs , president and chief executive at Constellation, told Bank Automation News . “It’s probably not a surprise that we are seeing increased interest in services specific to attracting new members and their deposits; services such as subscription management, digital card issuance, financial education and targeted marketing are very popular.” Moving away from inflexible legacy systems and timely investing in key tech upgrades are major challenges for credit unions seeking to revamp their digital strategy, he said. “By the time we would go through the process of bidding, selecting and replacing network storage, then networking hardware, telecommunications, desktops and key business applications, it was time to start over again,” Kovacs said. Moving operations to the cloud can help credit unions shorten these time frames and stay up to date with evolving technology, he added. Genpact, Apex to use Gen AI to fight financial crime Genpact , an IT and AI services provider, is working with Apex Fintech Solutions , a digital wealth management platform, to fight financial crime. With nearly $2 trillion laundered globally, the companies aim to fight back, Brian Baral , global head of risk management at Genpact, told BAN. Genpact will use the generative AI capabilities of Amazon Web Services’ Bedrock solution to improve speed and increase accuracy in detecting financial crime, it stated in a Sept. 28 release. RiskCanvas, Genpact’s cloud native financial crime fighting solution, will allow its customers like Apex to crack down harder on activities like money laundering, Baral said. “We have a long-standing partnership with Amazon Web Services and have been deeply ingrained in their ecosystem for quite some time,” Baral said. “They're using advanced technology, and have been using AI for many years, to bring a change to the industry and to stop financial crime.” Apex has been working with Genpact since 2019 and has been using its software to “monitor transactions to ensure that people aren’t moving money in a suspicious way” while keeping sanctions in mind, Baral said. Genpact’s riskCanvas can complete 80% of a suspicious activity report filing to authorities about the who, what, when, where and how aspects of suspicious transactions, reducing manual labor and expediting the screening process, Justin Morgan , head of financial crimes compliance at Apex Fintech Solutions, told BAN . Genpact’s software helps Apex in onboarding clients, monitoring their transactions and reporting suspicious activities to authorities, Baral said. RiskCanvas can help boost employee productivity by 60% and reduce the need of companies like Apex to constantly hire employees to fight the issue and remain compliant, Baral said. PayPal joins forces with Apple Pay PayPal has joined forces with Apple to provide its customers with the ability to add PayPal and Venmo credit and debit cards to the Apple Wallet. The move will allow users to use their PayPal and Venmo cards for tap-to-pay payments through their iPhone or Apple Watch, according to PayPal’s Oct. 3 release. Customers can earn 2% cashback on PayPal credit card on their payments, which will be secured through a biometric confirmation like touch ID or face ID, the release stated. Tap-to-pay adoption is on the rise. According to a Sept. 7 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report, tap-to-pay payments are expected to hit $179 billion in 2023 and $451 billion by 2028, and companies like Apple and Google are looking to capitalize on the rising adoption. For example, Apple last month teamed up with Brazilian fintech CloudWalk to allow customers to turn their iPhones into terminals to initiate and accept payments, according to Apple’s Sept. 19 release. “Customers in Brazil can download our app [InfinitePay] and start accepting transactions from contactless credit and debit cards in a very secure way,” Luis Silva , chief executive at CloudWalk, told BAN . Visit Bank Automation News’ Transactions Database, which lists the technology selected or acquired by companies in the financial services industry , with a specific focus on technology that enhance s automat ion.

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