Axis-Citibank Deal: One year later, what's the verdict on customer and employee retention?

One year after the Axis-Citi deal, Citibank customers and employees have largely stayed loyal to Axis Bank though there are setbacks as some decided not to sign up with the private sector bank. Let's look at the contraction in credit card numbers, assets under management of wealth management clients, deposit base and number of employees since the deal announcement last year.   

A year ago, the total savings deposits that were coming to the balance sheet of Axis Bank was about Rs 50,200 crore. As many as 81 per cent of the deposits were low-cost current and savings account (CASA), which plays a key role in consumer banking. The addition to aggregate deposit has now gone down to Rs 39,900 crore, of which 77 per cent is CASA.

But the prize catch is 1,600 plus Suvidha corporate relationships where the number remains the same. This would strengthen the bank's salary business as these deposits are sticky in nature and also stable. In fact , the Suvidha corporate relationships also offer a good cross selling opportunity for other banking products. Axis has a much wider product basket to offer to Citibank clients. 

The wealth AUM has also taken a minor hit with current AUM at Rs 94,700 crore. A year ago, the bank factored an additional AUM of Rs 1,10,900 crore from Citi’s wealth & private banking products. At that time, the Citibank private and Citi gold had an AUM of Rs 50,500 crore, while Citi priority and others were bringing in Rs 60400 crore.

The bank was also getting 2.5 million credit card holders. The book was coming with the highest monthly spends per card and a book size of around Rs 8,900 crores as of June 2021. As per today's announcement, the card portfolio that is finally shifting to Axis is around 1.8 million cardholders.

In terms of the high-quality talent pool, the private sector bank has made an offer of employment to 3,600 employees. A large part of the employees, at almost 60 per cent were in the product side followed by 38 per cent in risk, operations and technology and 2 per cent in global function. There are about 3,200 employees that are finally joining the Axis family with effect from March 01, 2023.

As a result of the reduction in key business numbers, the deal value for Axis has gone down from Rs 12,325 crores at the time of announcement to Rs 11,603 crore. 

The bank has actually completed the acquisition at a very fast pace. “This is a significant milestone in Axis' journey of growth and leadership in the banking industry and is set to bring great value for all stakeholders involved,” said Amitabh Chaudhry, MD & CEO of the bank.

Also Read: ‘Citi India customers now served by Axis Bank’: Important points Citi customers need to know