(8 August 2005 – USA) Citigroup chief executive Chuck Prince has said the bank will make further acquisitions in developing markets with Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe the main targets.Prince cited the US giant’s US$2.7 billion purchase of South Korea’s KorAm Bank in 2004 as the type of acquisition Citigroup would look to repeat in other markets.
The bank also made acquisitions in Poland and Mexico last year.
He said the strategy would be to make a purchase that helped increased Citigroup’s market share from two or three percent to around 10 percent.
Prince said the bank needed to make these types of acquisitions to ensure it stayed ahead of its rivals.
“I can’t let the world overtake the advantages we have built up over the last 200 years,” he said.