With the situation of distrust that the United States banking system is experiencing since the Silicon Valley bank crisis, an additional risk event of the Citigroup subsidiary in Mexico would have generated additional uncertainty for the group and for the entire banking system of that country. country. For this reason, possibly, the financial group decided to reverse its sale position immediately. If the river sounds it is because it carries water, the saying goes.
It will neither be from the government nor will it be private, but public
Possibly the best thing Citigroup could have done is send its banking business to the Stock Market and go public with its management. In this way, shareholders and investors will be able to see the bank’s operating reports quarterly, something that is positive for an institution that manages money from the public as its main business.
For perspective, Citigroup’s commercial (consumer and corporate) banking business is not as important or strategic. Furthermore, it is less relevant in a country like Mexico, where bank penetration is lower than in Chile, Brazil or other economies in the region.
Fortunately, with this decision by Citigroup, the rhetoric that a traditional bank like Banamex could be rescued by the government or by a public-private association is broken. In this sense, the worst scenario (and the least desirable) is to have more public companies operated by the government. And less a bank.
On the other hand, Citigroup slaps the federal government with a white glove in its eagerness to collect 2,000 million dollars in taxes for a sale that is no longer going to happen.
Rhetoric is useless in business
Information will always be more important than rhetoric. According to a Banxico report, the Banamex card called Clásica Citibanamex has a CAT of 130.1%, one of the highest for credit cards equal to or less than 4,500 pesos. On the other hand, for cards with more than 15,000 pesos of credit, the CAT is 77.5%. An insanity penalty for those who are late in their payments.