DBS Taiwan becomes largest foreign bank by assets after Citi acquisition

DBS Taiwan becomes largest foreign bank by assets after Citi acquisition

2023-08-14

DBS Bank has completed the acquisition of Citigroup’s consumer banking business in Taiwan. That means Citi’s 44 branches in the country will now be operated by DBS Taiwan, and about 3,000 Citi employees are now working for DBS. The acquisition is expected to make DBS Taiwan the sixth biggest bank in Taiwan by credit card numbers. At a transfer ceremony on Monday, executives from DBS Singapore announced a capital injection of NT$52 billion into its Taiwan business, showing its commitment to expanding operations in the country.

DBS Taiwan has completed the acquisition of Citigroup’s consumer banking business. To mark the transfer, executives from DBS in Singapore traveled to Taiwan to take part in a ceremony.

Shee Tse Koon
DBS consumer banking and wealth management
To ensure that DBS has enough capital to continue developing here, we increased our Taiwan capital by NT$52 billion.

Showing its commitment to expanding in Taiwan, DBS announced an injection of NT$52 billion to cover acquisition and post-merger expenses. DBS entered the Taiwan market in 1983, and its first subsidiary started operating in 2012. Earlier this year, the banking group acquired Citi Consumer Taiwan, marking its 40th anniversary in the market.

The acquisition has boosted the scale of DBS’s asset management operations to over NT$280 billion. Its loan balance has risen to NT$740 billion and its deposit balance is now at NT$830 billion. In addition, the number of credit card accounts it operates has increased nearly five-fold. Citi cardholders will retain their rights and benefits for the most part, with changes only to annual fees for some types of cards. Clients will also have to re-register to use the DBS online banking app. The transfer of client data from one bank to the other took about two days and was completed by 9 a.m. on Monday.

Ng Sier Han
DBS Taiwan CEO
Citi had a lot of data to process, there were a lot of clients. But with our careful planning, we managed to do it. Now, cardholders can continue using their cards without any problems. The next bills they will receive will be issued by DBS Taiwan. As for debit cards, new ones will be issued. In the first month, we will of course have to settle everyone in, but we hope we’ll be able see some results by the fourth quarter.

Back in June, the biggest banks in Taiwan by number of credit cards saw Cathay United Bank in the lead, followed by CTBC Bank. DBS Taiwan came in at No. 16. But after acquiring more than 2 million cards from Citi Consumer Taiwan, it’s expected to crack the Top 6 in the updated list in August. A big change earlier this year saw Taipei Fubon Bank edge past Taishin Bank and rise to No. 4, after securing a co-branded credit card agreement with Costco. With the merger and an expiring Costco partnership, August could become the biggest month in history for transitioning to a new credit card issuer.