Citi’s Exit Triggers Damage Control in Crisis-Scarred Mexico

  • Finance minister, banking head rush to ease savers’ worries
  • Mexico economy has nothing to do with Citi’s decision: Ramirez
Outside a Banco Nacional de Mexico SA (Banamex) Citibanamex bank branch in Mexico City, Mexico, on Jan. 12.Photographer: Jeoffrey Guillemard/Bloomberg
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Citigroup Inc.’s plan to exit retail-banking operations in Mexico has pushed the government into damage-control mode to ease concerns in a country scarred by a financial crisis in the 1990s.

Finance Minister Rogelio Ramirez de la O sought to tamp down any negative reading on the economy from the potential sale, and he said the government would seek to limit the closure of any branches.