The German retail banking arm of Citibank, part of the Citigroup financial giant, saw the number of interested German parties drop to one when Commerzbank withdrew from the race.
There is interest from outside Germany still, but within the borders of the country only Deutsche Bank remains an interested party. A couple of other big European players are looking at Citibank in Germany with interest, with a move expected before the end of the month. It continues what has been a turbulent time in the German banking market as a number of organisations have changed hands recently.
With around 3.25 million customers the German Citibank is expecting offers in the region of EUR4 to EUR5 billion, especially as it runs profitably and is one of the leaders in consumer financing, generating handsome returns.
The bad news of England not qualifying for the Euro 2008 Championships is tempered by the fact that, according to the Abbey National, the average British football fan will have saved over GBP550 by England not being there.
The Abbey National survey found that around 1.8 million consumers were considering buying a new television towatch England play n Euro 2008, with nearly 2.3 million spending nearly GBP150 per person on football kit, flags, hats and so on. Celebrating victories or drowning sorrows was also planned for, with nearly GBP100 per person earmarked for alcohol at home plus a further GBP135 spent at the pub.
A spokesman for Abbey National empathised with the England supporters who would be missing out on a potentially great tournament but felt that the silver lining of saving so much money would make it all bearable. And of course it also means England will not be knocked out on penalties as usual.
Citibank parent citigroup has posted another loss for the third successive quarter, though it is less than was expected.
Asset wise Citibank is the biggest bank in the United States but has been badly hit by the sub-prime lending troubles and is fighting to get out of the mire. The bank recorded losses of GBP1.3 billion in the three month period to the end of June, with around GBP5.8 billion of write-downs again hitting them hard.
The losses were less than anticipated though leading to their share price going up by a little less than 8 percent. The Citibank chairman said that although there is still a lot of work to do they are very encouraged by the progress that has already been made.
