Citigroup delay Japanese units merger

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A planned merger of two of Citigroup's Japanese units will be delayed, the Nikkei newspaper reports.

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The news came yesterday (October 16th) as the paper confirmed that Citigroup will hold back on its merger of brokerage Nikko Cordial Securities and investment bank Nikko Citigroup.

Citibank had originally planned that the merger of the two Japanese units would be complete by March 2009 so that it could concentrate its efforts on strengthening group revenues in Japan.

While the bank said it was the cost of the deal that was the reason for the delay, afxnews.co.uk reported that retail brokerage Nikko Cordial has been taking longer than was expected to prepare for Japan's switch to electronic stock certificates - originally planned for next year.

A spokesman for Nikko Citi Holdings, Citigroup's Japanese holding company, has declined to comment on the report.

Earlier this week Citigroup said it would sell 91 per cent of its stake in investment firm Nikko Antfactory to investors including unlisted Norinchukin Bank and Mitsubishi Corp.