Battle lines are being drawn between two of the biggest banks in the world: Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE:C) and HSBC Holdings, PLC (NYSE:HBC). It’s an American bank vs. a European one, and the fight’s over an Asian country: China.
China opened up to foreign banks in 2006, and ever since that time, just about every banking giant in the world has been struggling to get a foothold there.
“We have aggressive consumer banking expansion plans and want to open branches as fast as regulators in China will let us,” Citigroup’s co-chief in Asia, Stephen Bird, told Bloomburg.
Citigroup has just 29 outlets in China. That puts it in third place behind HSBC (102) and UK bank Standard Chartered (LON:STAN), which has 59. Citigroup’s just announced they’re putting more chips in the pot, though, with aggressive plans to hire 12,000 more people in the country over the next three year.
What does it mean for investors? Better performance. In 2008, Citigroup posted a 46 percent revenue increase. 2009 stats aren’t available, but in general banks have clocked more than 20 percent returns on equity in China. That’s far better than their returns in developed markets like the U.S., and it just might prove to be the savior for a fallen giant.
