Dow Jones
PRAGUE In its latest expansion of services in the potentially lucrative Central and Eastern Europe banking sector, U.S. financial conglomerate Citigroup unveiled plans Wednesday for its first retail banking office in the Czech Republic.
The Citibank subsidiarys jump into the retail arena comes after having spent nearly a decade focusing on corporate services in the Czech market. In the next year, the bank plans to open as many as 10 offices throughout the country in a bid to capture a slice of the rapidly transforming retail end, Citibank officials said here.
Though bank officials declined to say how much Citibank is spending on the rollout or how much market share it is seeking, the banks David Kay said it hopes to gain 50,000 to 75,000 customers in the first year. The first office is to be opened Feb. 1.
Citibank is already in Hungary and Poland.
