Citibank has received approval from the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions to begin operations of a newly created branch of its parent, Citibank N.A.

Recent regulatory changes ended the requirement that foreign banks, like Citibank, operate solely as a separately capitalized subsidiary. Previously, Bank Act regulations required the Canadian operations of foreign banks to operate as separately capitalized subsidiaries — in effect restricting the size and amount of lending and financings to the discrete capital base of the subsidiary.

“This opens up a lot of opportunities for Citibank in Canada and gives us more flexibility in structuring solutions for our clients,” said Michael Roberts, chairman and CEO Citibank Canada.

“We plan to take full advantage of this change to aggressively grow our corporate business and continue to provide the creative global financial solutions that Canadian companies are demanding,” he added.

OSFI’s approval allows Citibank to draw upon the capital base of Citibank N.A., which has one of the largest capital bases of any bank in the world. “The corporate banking sector in Canada is among the most competitive in the world and Citibank Canada has been an active player for over 30 years,” said Roberts. “Branch status will allow us to better leverage our competitive advantage in banking services for Canada’s growing global companies.”

The subsidiary Citibank Canada will continue to operate along side the branch and will continue to provide financial solutions to a broad array of clients.

Citibank Canada offers consumer-banking services, credit card services via its MasterCard operations, travel & entertainment card services through Diners club, private banking, leasing services through its subsidiary Citicorp Vendor Finance (CitiCapital) and other corporate banking services.