Citigroup Maps Out Expansion of Commercial Banking Across Africa

Citigroup Inc. has been pulling back retail operations from broad swaths of the globe, but its commercial banking business is finding new regions for expansion.

The U.S. lender is starting commercial banking services in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Egypt to take advantage of the presence of international businesses in those countries, Ebru Pakcan, chief executive officer of Citigroup’s EMEA emerging markets cluster, said in an interview in Dubai.

The push into some of Africa’s biggest economies echoes the bank’s efforts in countries like Australia, where it set up a commercial-banking business in 2019.

Under CEO ...