The banker explained last February that the sale of Banamex will be a process that will last at least two years and that at the end of 2021 it will be known who will buy it.
While that is happening, Manuel Romo must work to obtain an operating license from the CNBV for Citi Mexico and lead the team that will be in charge of getting everything ready for the sale of Banamex.
“Our goal is to have the best group of bankers at Citibanamex, the only thing we do is that some stay in wholesale banking and others in the banking that we deliver to Banamex,” Romo commented.
The banker added that it is essential to have their business partners, referring to the alliances they have with Ocesa, BlackRock, Chubb, Matercard and Costco. “We had contact with them and at that moment we began to design very specific strategies, what it is about is keeping the operation current, active, open and with new offers.”
In addition, although the retail business is for sale, Citibanamex will not stop investing in technological innovation: the bank will seek to improve call center services, the opening of new branches and the renovation of ATMs.
“We are going to close some branches, but automatically we are going to open others because the urban sprawl has moved,” explained Romo.
Since last year, the bank has also made efforts to make its branch executives more advisors to clients than sellers of financial products.
Romo detailed that 88% of the transactions stopped being made in a branch to be done digitally.
Regarding the plans for wholesale banking, that is, Citi Mexico, Manuel Romo says that they will have a catalog of products and services that is unique in Mexico with corporate banking, investment banking, the structuring of debt issues and the structuring of derivatives.
“Fortunately, we have a very large client base, exporters, clients who are transforming plants, are investing, and we believe that we give them unique tools in the market,” he stressed.
In the business of large companies, Citibanamex sees advantages in Mexico as it is a country with stability in its public finances, with social peace, as well as the largest number of Free Trade Agreements in the world.
“Mexico is natural, its strategic geographic positioning is natural, to bring the operation that exists in Asia. So, it is more important than ever,” he added.
Since the sale of Banamex was announced, the parent company in the United States stressed that Mexico was a very important country for them but that retail banking was no longer part of this business plan.
“The reason is that because the commercial flows between the United States and Mexico simply go for more, that is, it is irremediable.”
