They don’t have that little machine to roll the card and the invoice together and then type it in by hand?
Can I ask… does Obank have a real credit or is that a debit card?
Sometimes…most of the time they freak out.
I like when I’m back home and the sales associate asks to see an ID when I use my Cathay debit card which has no name on it. I hand it to them, they give them both a good looking over, and not once has it stopped me from completing the transaction. 
That was my problem in the US before, quite frustrating. During my last trip a couple of years ago, however, I noticed that more places had chip reading machines (at least in California).
I think they offer credit cards but that’s a debit one.
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This is a pretty huge decision for an institution of this size to exit most of Asia. They have been in many of these Asian countries for many years.
They must know something is up. Maybe trying to limit their exposure to non performing loans, since the property in many Asian countries is grossly overvalued.
They may be big in the USA, but in Taiwan their market share is tiny. Taiwanese banks for the most part (most not all) are very profitable and it seems Citibank market share is too small reach that level. Even the regional Kaoshuing Bank (which was real city bank owned by the city, now partial ownership) has far more branches than Citibank in Taiwan. It’s I think a business decision to do business where they are strong and not a sign of problems here.
They seem to have been in the process of moving away from traditional Retail Banking to concentrate solely on Investment Banking of which they don’t seem to have enough takers to justify keeping the doors open. In Australia they are down to ONE branch in Sydney (which is also getting the chop). In Sydney you needed to have at least AUD200,000 to be able to have a Manager assigned, otherwise its just the Telephone (Call Centre in Manila) or Internet.
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Yes in Aussie land it’s harder , as four big banking groups control the national market (hope Bendigo Bank can stay independent!). At least so far in Taiwan there are quite a few choices still. The big four Aussie banks also are highly profitable, so the lesson it seem you need be big in a market area.
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When I first arrived in Taiwan, I always found it interesting that the China trust or Taishin next door to a Citibank was rammed full of people all lined up and willing to wait for service and the Citibank was basically empty, walk up and be served. I tried to figure out why.
Over time I made a few observations that may or may not be accurate. Just as they appeared to me.
Citibank doesn’t feel like a normal bank here. People are used to the chairs and waiting.
The foreign banks feel very upscale, like you don’t really belong if your an average joe trying to do personal banking
As you said, not many locations
Foreign banks actively push away people that they feel are not very high net worth. A foreign bank told me once we can open an account for you but you don’t really want to do that. It takes a.long time and they pointed out the window to a Cathay and said why don’t you go there lol
The technology was advanced like having no passbooks even a decade ago and a big push to everything being online. Most of the rich in Taiwan are older and they like the old timey feel of a bankbook and waiting in line
I felt the foreign branches were small and claustrophobic compared to the wide and spacious local banks.
Local banks had a big focus on SME and relationships with the managers at the branch. I didn’t get this vibe with foreign banks, their applications were formal and followed the rules with not much chance of getting things done based on guanxi. You either qualified or you didn’t.
I think ultimately Citibank and the others could have made the Taiwan market successful. But it would have to strip out what makes them a foreign bank and try to emulate what local banks do. You can even see the local fisherman cooperative is successful and very busy during the day as they have a good niche
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I understand they are not too popular in Taiwan but they are one of the largest financial institutions on the planet. Not just in the US, but globally. I am just wondering why they would not stay as they are an agent bank for dollar clearing.
There are a lot of tech companies wanting presence it Taiwan, especially from the US. As you see they are leaving huge markets too like China and Korea. This could have an impact also on expats.
So they say. But so is SC, HSBC too. So I am not sure I buy the whole investment narrative. But, you could be right. This means that the costs will be much higher in the coming years for the local banks to transfer money to other countries/currencies.
Citi’s main client base was high net worth Taiwanese living in the US. To open an account you had to make an appointment weeks in advance and they told you if you didn’t plan to maintain a minimum balance of NT500,000 and preferably 3,000,000 not to bother.
They didn’t say they will close their entire operations just the retail arms. Wealthy people can still bank with them offshore through HK and Singapore.
Well then…
Will you do the honours in bestowing upon me my Nice Reply badge good sir?
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Is that >10 likes is it? Done.
Yea. 10 likes. Thanks!
“Citibank Taiwan reported a pretax profit of US$338 million for last year, ranking first among all foreign banks in the nation, company data showed.”
https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2021/04/17/2003755821
Exiting a market they are making a profit in?..why would a bank do that?
Because you can deploy your capital elsewhere where you can make much more.
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