Citigroup Inc. plans to fully resume retail marketing in Japan by Dec. 31 after halting the activity last year amid a probe into whether it failed to explain risks to clients, two sources said.
Citibank Japan Ltd. began allowing some employees who have received compliance training to contact customers to sell products, including mutual funds and foreign currency deposits, from July 1, said the sources, asking not to be named because the plan isn't public. Hiroshi Okada, a spokesman for the FSA, declined comment.
The U.S. bank began curtailing marketing about a year ago as it awaited the outcome of a Financial Services Agency probe. It was ordered to suspend those operations for a month from January in the third round of penalties levied against the bank in seven years. Resuming soliciting clients for such products may help Citigroup take market share as HSBC Holdings PLC and Lloyds Banking Group PLC shutter local branches.
Citigroup's Japan CEO, Darren Buckley, resigned in January after the regulator announced the punishment, and was replaced by Kazuya Jono, who had previously been responsible for risk controls at Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. Jono joined Citibank on June 1 and is still reviewing the bank's compliance and staff training, the sources said.
Citibank Japan had ¥3.5 trillion in deposits as of March 31, according to its website. It has 1,800 employees and 38 branches.