Citi in talks with IT cos to sell tech assets

Citibank is currently in discussions with Indian IT firms Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Wipro, among others, to sell some of its internal IT platforms, two people familiar with the discussions said.

The deal, which could be valued between $60 and $100 million, includes intellectual property (IP) used for delivering equity trading services.

“With this IP, we will not only gain business from Citi, but also be able to offer services to other financial services customers using the same platform,” said a senior executive at one of the IT firms negotiating with Citi to acquire its technology assets. He requested anonymity because he is not authorised to comment on the proposed transaction, which is still in an early stage.

When contacted by ET last week, Citi spokesman Godwin Chellam said that his company would not comment on any speculation. Officials at TCS and Wipro, too, declined to comment. Another person familiar with Citi’s restructuring and other outsourcing initiatives said the bank started evaluating the sale of all non-core assets and business units almost two years ago.

“Transactions with TCS and Wipro were part of Citi’s overall drive to move out of non-core businesses and raise cash by selling some of the internal assets,” he said.