(Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc. plans to close three of its four London branches as the company seeks to cut costs and focus on digital services.
The U.S. bank has written to clients about plans to shutter outlets in the City of London, Mayfair and Canary Wharf districts in the next two months, correspondence seen by Bloomberg News shows. The lender will continue to operate the Citigold and Citigold Private Client Center at its European headquarters in Canary Wharf.
“Wealth management client centers best suit our client base and their increasing preference for digital channels,” in London, Belinda Marks, a Citigroup spokeswoman, said in an email. “As a result, we will close three branches with formats and locations that do not fit our market strategy." The company may open other wealth-management centers in due course, according to the email.
Major lenders are making cuts to their branch networks as customers move online and revenue is squeezed by low interest rates. Citigroup had 2,649 retail-banking branches globally at the end of 2016, a 5 percent reduction from a year earlier.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jack Sidders in London at jsidders@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Neil Callanan at ncallanan@bloomberg.net, Andrew Blackman, Jon Menon
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