Banks’ push to transform their business and go digital may be starting to show results. Take the case of Citi. In the past year, it has shrunk its physical footprint – as measured by the number of branches – yet it has posted a modest 3% topline growth in its consumer business during the third quarter to US$1.76 billion. This is crucially important given the size of the consumer business, which accounts for just over half of Citi’s total revenue of US$3.4 billion in Asia.

Francisco Aristequieta, CEO of the bank in the region, says that one out every four new credit cards are now acquired online. In a memo to staff, he also shares that over 46% of its credit card payments in China are now settled via digital partners. The bank has forged partnerships with two of China’s most successful payments technology providers, WeChat and Alipay.

The not so good news is that Citi’s consumer business in China is still in the red. Foreign banks' dream of eventually minting decent returns in what is one of Asia’s most promising consumer markets will have to wait for a few more years. With foreign banks’ share of China’s banking market at just a miniscule 2% as measured by total assets, scale is a problem.

Therefore, it probably is pointless for banks such as Citi to take on China’s Big-5 banks in the domestic market just as it is pointless for Chinese banks to take on the likes of Citi in the US market. The opportunity for foreign banks such as Citi is when Chinese consumers and investors start to increase their cross-border activity as the country continues along its market-opening agenda.

Indeed, Asia is on the cusp of an investment transformation brought about by the growing affluence and also a need to invest for the future. With interest rates anticipated to remain low for longer, there isn’t much point in heeding our parent’s advice to squirrel savings into a bank deposit.

Citi’s wealth management revenues were up 11% during the quarter with strong double-digit gains in markets such as Hong Kong, Korea, India and Indonesia. With Chinese investors looking to diversify away from the weakening renminbi and as China opens up additional channels to invest offshore, it should be where a foreign bank with a global presence could differentiate.

Meanwhile, conditions remain a challenge on the corporate and institutional side of the business, which is reflective of the shrinking wallet share as a result of lower volumes for equity underwriting and M&A advisory. International banks also face increased competition including from domestic rivals such as for Chinese IPOs.

Monoline providers such as Goldman Sachs are suffering the most with industry sources suggesting a reduction in senior-banker headcount across the Asia-Pacific by some 30%. Goldman no longer has a senior partner based in Singapore, the first time in recent memory. This week, it was also made public that its Asia-Pacific chairman Mark Schwartz is stepping down by the end of 2016. Similar woes are bedeviling the likes of Deutsche Bank and J.P.Morgan.

At Citi, revenues at its Institutional Clients Group was up 4% to reach US$1.65 billion, a number that Aristequieta described as “steady”. In the face of the tougher operating environment, Citi is restructuring its business. “Corporate bank heads now have responsibility for all corporate banking activities across financial institutions, public sector and global subsidiaries group.” He believes that the full integration of the corporate banking teams in each country is “critical to our future growth”. This translates to removing overlaps and increasing the cross-sell across all products such as treasury and securities services together with investment banking.