Citi sells Hungary consumer banking business to Erste Group

Reuters
A Citibank ATM is seen in Los Angeles, California, March 10, 2015. The U.S. Federal Reserve will release bank health check results March 11. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

(Reuters) - Citigroup Inc <C.N> agreed to sell its consumer banking business in Hungary to Austria's Erste Group Bank AG <ERST.VI> as the third-biggest U.S. bank by assets continues to divest non-core operating businesses.

The sale includes Citi's retail banking, consumer loans, and cards businesses and the transfer of consumer banking employees, the U.S. bank said on Wednesday.

Citi did not disclose the financial terms of the deal but said the sale was not material.

Reuters reported in June that Erste Group was on track to buy Citigroup's Hungarian retail portfolio.

Citi has pared back internationally in recent years, pulling out of retail banking in long-established markets such as Japan.

(Reporting by Supriya Kurane in Bengaluru; Editing by Anupama Dwivedi)