The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said Thursday it has approved an agreement for DBS to acquire Citigroup Inc.’s consumer banking franchise in Taiwan.

The approval of the acquisition plan, which the companies reached in January, was announced at a regular press briefing by Lin Chih-chi (???), deputy director of the FSC’s Banking Bureau.

In a statement released shortly after, DBS thanked the financial regulator and pledged to work diligently to complete the acquisition process by August next year.

As of the end of November, DBS was the 26th largest bank in Taiwan, with total assets of NT$474.4 billion (US$15.45 billion), while Citi Consumer Taiwan ranked 19th with NT$837.8 billion in assets, according to FSC data.

Based on DBS’ estimate of Citi’s total assets at the time of the acquisition, it would become Taiwan’s 18th largest bank.

At the press conference, Lin said the acquisition would see DBS take over Citi’s 45 existing branch locations, bringing its total to 74, of which around 60 percent would be located in northern Taiwan.

As DBS does not offer ATM services in Taiwan, it is planning to remove the 66 ATMs currently operated by Citi once the acquisition is complete, he said.

However, this decision is not expected to have a major impact on consumers as all but four of Citi’s ATMs are located in its bank branches, where DBS will continue to offer a full range of counter services, Lin added.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel