Leading International law firm Clifford Chance Clifford Chance has advised Citi on the sale of its consumer banking business in India to Axis Bank. The transaction is expected to result in a US$1.4 billion regulatory capital benefit to Citi.

The transaction includes credit cards, retail banking, wealth management and consumer loans, as well as the transfer of approximately 3,200 employees. It is part of Citi’s refreshed strategy to direct investments and resources to the businesses where it has the greatest scale and growth potential.

Citi announced it had reached an agreement with Axis Bank to sell the businesses on 30 March 2022, with the closing of the transaction being subject to the parties obtaining the required regulatory approvals. The transaction closed on 1 March 2023 and was described by the Citi CEO of Legacy Franchises, Titi Cole, as a ‘landmark sale’ and ‘key milestone’ for Citi in its strategy refresh.

Clifford Chance worked closely with Indian counsel, AZB & Partners, on the transaction.

The transaction builds on the firm’s leading M&A experience in the financial institutions sector and long experience of working with Citi on its own account corporate transactions.

The team was led by Financial Institutions Group partner, Richard Crosby, supported by a multi practice team in Corporate (Jessica Lambert, Imogen Ainsworth, Ayush Vijayvargiya, Beth Eyre, Kate Wilson, James Cashier, Fergus Grady, Dan Bomsztyk and Hephzibah Adeosun and Co-Head of London Corporate, Melissa Fogarty), Tech Group (Andre Duminy, Jenni Polson and Claudia Hall), Employment (Alistair Woodland, Alistair Green), Pensions (Hywel Robinson, Matthew Preston) and Tax (Nicola Hemsley, Richard Kalaher, Nicola Griffin), Real Estate (Alis Pay, Lena McCrae).