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.
Citibank has come to an agreement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to buy back several billion dollars worth of auction rate securities, the risks of which had been misrepresented.
The SEC had recently looked into the situation and decided Citibank had mismarketed and sold the securities as being less risky than they were. Citigroup had promoted them as being as safe as similar cash based products though this is not the case.
Although Citibank are buying the securities back it is something they could really do without since they have been hit very hard by the collapse of the sub-prime lending market. Financing the buyback will damage the bank further as they will have to reimburse any customers who sold for a loss, on top of paying fines worth USD100 million.
With the cost of living in the UK rising at a higher rate than it has for some considerable time the people of the UK are feeling the need to cut back on their spending.
A survey carried out by the Alliance and Leicester found that over half of those surveyed had already started cutting back on spending. One of the most popular steps taken to save money has been to change gas and electric suppliers. Around 20 percent of those surveyed have done this already. Behind that comes sourcing low or zero interest credit cards, enabling people to cut the amount they pay on their borrowings.
There will be more and more people looking at ways to cut back on their spending as costs keep rising, so being aware of areas where savings can be made can only be helpful. As an Alliance and Leicester spokesperson commented, it is sensible to look for the best offer in all areas of living, since a saving is a saving.
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