A top official from Citigroup has hinted at trimming branches in Korea amid a streak of weak profits.

John Gerspach, chief financial officer at Citi, said that the third-biggest U.S. lender is preparing to shutter locations outside urban areas in the country this year to focus on wealthier clients.

The restructuring plan is part of the group’s “urban-type strategy” to improve returns, the CFO said Thursday in a conference call with analysts.

“We have done some of that, but hope to do that (in Korea) in earnest this year,” he said.

The comment came as the U.S. lender has been struggling to sustain profits in Asia, particularly in Korea.

Citibank Korea, the group’s Korean unit, posted a net income of 27.9 billion won ($25.8 million) in the third quarter of 2013, down 53 percent on-year.

The chief financial officer earlier expressed concerns over the Korean operations, noting that it would “hurt revenue” in Asia through 2014.

Some market insiders estimate that Citigroup is preparing to scale back its operations in Korea due to low growth and low returns.

“Citi has been repositioning our consumer business in Korea to reflect the market conditions and our focus on the emerging affluent in the top cities,” Citigroup Korea said in a statement on Friday.

Citigroup’s Korean unit, however, declined to comment on whether it would start to shut some of its branches this year.

The group’s Korean unit currently operates 196 outlets, down from 238 at the end of 2004.

Over the past years, a growing number of foreign financial firms has scrapped or scaled back their operations here amid the country’s slow economic growth.

HSBC Korea is now seeking to close 10 of 11 branches to halt its retail banking here and focus on corporate banking instead. The U.K.-listed Standard Chartered Bank also aims to slash its Korean branches from 350 to 250 in 2014.

By Oh Kyu-wook (596story@heraldcorp.com)