CCI Approved Citi's Consumer Business Acquisition by Axis Bank

Competition Commission has approved Axis Bank's proposed acquisition of Citi's consumer business in India, one of the largest deals in the country's financial services space.

Under the deal worth Rs 12,325 crore, announced on March 30, Axis Bank would take over Citi's credit cards, personal loans and wealth management businesses that are focused on the affluent segment.

In a tweet on Tuesday, the regulator said it has cleared the "acquisition of Citibank, N.A.'s and Citicorp Finance (India) Limited's undertakings comprising of their consumer banking activities by Axis Bank".

This is what it will mean for you.

Services to run as normal: Obviously after the merger takes place the biggest concern for the customer would be, how it will impact the services they are using. The current features and advantages of credit cards and other services will either remain the same for customers when Citi's retail banking unit merges with Axis Bank or they will be improved. The employees that customers deal with at the bank won't change, according to Axis Bank officials, and their interactions with them will either stay the same or get better. When the transition is over the Citi retail customers will become Axis Bank's customers and will have access to offerings of Axis bank.

Time taken for transition: The transformation will take 9–18 months, with an optional additional six months, as the lenders had stated in March. Axis Bank will pay between Rs. 1,100 and 1,200 crore of the estimated Rs. 1,500 crore in transition costs. The Citi customers will progressively be switched over to the Axis Bank platform.

KYC: After the merger, the KYC will have to be done again, as per the requirement of the regulator.

None of the branches will be changed since most branches are at convenient locations.