(Bloomberg) — Citigroup Inc.’s effort to list its Mexican retail banking operations may stretch into 2026 as it navigates a rocky market, regulatory approvals and seeks to bring key investors on board, according to its top executives.
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The bank, which had originally targeted 2025 for the move, requires a slew of regulatory approvals to IPO in both Mexico and the US as it seeks to “make headway” with potential investors, Chief Financial Officer Mark Mason said on an earnings call Wednesday. The bank could place roughly 15% tranches of the business in offerings over a 12- to 24-month period until it’s fully exited the unit, he said.
Citigroup completed its separation of Citibanamex into Grupo Financiero Citi Mexico and Grupo Financiero Banamex late last year in preparation for the IPO of Banamex shares. The split followed a failed process to sell the retail business after conditions were imposed by Mexico’s then-President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. A bid from billionaire German Larrea’s Grupo Mexico SAB was scuppered in 2023.
Jane Fraser, who launched the effort to sell the retail business in 2022, said the bank wants to IPO the unit as soon as it can.
“But given market conditions and given regulatory approvals, it’s possible this could go into ‘26,” the CEO said on the call. “We’re doing everything in our control to be ready as soon as possible.”
Mason stressed that they haven’t provided an exact timing for the IPO process as the bank considers alternative IPO structures and potential investors. Both executives spoke following Citigroup’s fourth-quarter results, where it announced $20 billion worth of buybacks that helped send the stock soaring by almost 8% at one point.
“We had to put up, you know, Mexico’s eighth largest bank de novo in a very short period of time,” Fraser said. The lender faced more than 100 regulatory approvals to separate the banks, she added.
For Banamex, short for the Banco Nacional de Mexico, the challenge will be showing it has a clear business plan to regain lost market in order to drum up demand ahead of any offering.
As a combined unit, Citibanamex saw its share of the country’s total loan portfolio fall from above 22% in 2001, when Citigroup bought it amid a wave of acquisitions by foreign banks, to just over 8%, according to the latest Mexican regulator data through November. That pushed it from the No. 2 spot, to fourth place behind Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, Banco Santander and Grupo Financiero Banorte.
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