“We want to win”

Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser said she decided to exit the bank’s retail operations in 13 countries outside the US to improve yields.

One of Fraser’s top priorities, taken over by his predecessor Michael Corbat in February, is to bring New York-based Citigroup’s returns closer to those of peers like JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America.

“As we look at business more than a decade ahead, we want to be a winner,” Fraser told CNBC’s Wilfred Frost on “Closing Bell” in his first televised interview since he officially began as CEO.

“We want to close the return gap with our peers,” Fraser said. “To do that, make a candid assessment of which companies you can win and which ones may be in better hands with another bank.”

Last week, Citi said it was stepping out of retail banking in 13 countries outside the U.S. to focus more on wealth management, one of the first major strategic moves made by Fraser. The lender also reported first-quarter results that exceeded analysts ’earnings estimates with strong investment banking income and a larger-than-expected release of loan loss reserves.

There are clear areas of opportunity for Citigroup, the third-largest U.S. bank by assets behind JPMorgan and Bank of America, the CEO said.

The bank “doubles” in areas such as the global institutional banking business and wealth management in Asia and the United States, he said.

And Fraser hasn’t finished his strategic review that could result in more business divestments, he said, “There’s more to come, for sure” in terms of ads, he said.