Citi
Few lenders of global scale can claim to dominate their foreign peers in a big market quite like Citi does in India. HSBC and Standard Chartered are embedded veterans of Asia’s third-largest economy, with operations spanning most of the big urban centres, but none can touch Citi. The US lender is by far the largest foreign distributor of credit cards – 1.8 million and counting – and the leading overseas player in onshore wealth management, with assets under management of $4.6 billion. Citibank India posted pre-tax profits of $872 million in the financial year to the end of March 2016.
And it goes on. Citi is the biggest non-Indian consumer bank – 1.1 million retail customers at the end of March 2016 – and one of the most financially inclusive foreign lenders. It has more assets, liabilities and revenues than its leading foreign peers, along with a lower rate of non-performing loans.
And that’s before you factor in Citi’s powerhouse investment banking team, which ranked number one in completed M&A deals in 2016, finalizing 14 deals worth $7.7 billion for a 23.2% share of the market, according to Dealogic. Citi also ranked top in equity capital markets deals in 2016, completing 15 transactions worth $1.64 billion for a 16.4% market share. It all adds up to make Citi the best foreign bank operating in the world’s fastest-growing large economy.