Citi Announces Acquisition of Bank of Overseas Chinese

Transaction Adds More Than One Million Clients and Expands Citi’s Branch Network Six-fold in Taiwan

Taipei – Citi announced today it had received approval from the board of directors of Bank of Overseas Chinese (BOOC) to proceed with the acquisition of 100% of the Taiwan bank for approximately NTD 14.1 billion (US$427.3 million), via a cash-out merger, at a price of NTD 11.80 (US$0.36) per share in cash, subject to certain closing adjustments. The transaction is expected to be accretive in its first year.

A group of major shareholders, including Polaris Securities Co., Ltd., Far Glory Life Insurance Co., Ltd. and APEX International Financial Engineering Research & Technology Co., Ltd., has agreed to vote in favour of the proposed transaction, in a shareholders’ meeting to be held by BOOC. The operations of Citi Taiwan and BOOC will be combined following the consummation of the merger.

The combination of Citi Taiwan and BOOC will create a combined business with 66 branches and assets of US$22.8 billion, making it the largest international bank and 13th largest among all domestic Taiwan banks by total assets.1

Established as a private commercial bank in 1961, BOOC offers corporate banking products and services as well as a broad suite of consumer and wealth management services. The bank has assets of US$8.5 billion, loans of US$5.5 billion and a deposit base of US$7.0 billion as of 30th September 2006.2 It serves more than one million clients through 55 branches across Taiwan, and employs 2,200 staff.

Robert Morse, CEO of Citi Markets & Banking, Asia Pacific, said: “The acquisition of BOOC is a significant step in strengthening Citi’s presence in Taiwan. It reflects our ability and desire to complement our robust organic growth plans in the Asia Pacific region with strategic acquisitions, and to serve our clients better by expanding both our domestic presence and product offerings.”

Stephen Bird, CEO of Citi Consumer Banking, Asia Pacific, said: “We are excited to have the opportunity through this acquisition to broaden our consumer business in Taiwan, and make our products and services available to more clients in the market. We are also pleased to welcome the management and employees of BOOC to Citi and look forward to the contribution they will make to our ongoing local expansion plans.”

Citi Taiwan Country Officer Morris Li said: “This is a tremendous acquisition for Citi that supports our long term growth strategy in Taiwan to go deeper into the local market and reach a broader base of customers across all areas of banking. We are confident that the management and employees of BOOC will help us continue to deliver the best quality, innovative products and services to our clients in the market.”

Wayne Pai, CEO of Polaris Financial Group, said: “Citi is a global leader in financial services and we believe the clients and employees of BOOC will benefit greatly from Citi’s international experience and leading capabilities across consumer, corporate and investment banking.”

The transaction, which is subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals, is anticipated to close in the second half of 2007. Citi Markets & Banking was the sole financial advisor to Citi on this transaction.