Why foreign financial firms have quit

A surge in prosperity between 2005 and 2008 was purely due to a massive global boom across all geographies

Among the many arrogant quips and replies given by foreign banks immediately following the securities scam of 1992 was: “If you keep your front door unlocked, you are likely to be burgled.” This comment came from a cowboy banker from Citibank. He was justifying how foreign banks had hoodwinked Indian public-sector banks (PSBs) in the opaque government-securities market to make obscene profits. While their treasury operations were unknown outside the small, shadowy world of the Indian debt market, Citibank too was a dominant retail financial services brand in the early 1990s, setting the pace for retail finance — from credit