Weekly Global News Wrap: Citi to divest Mexico consumer arm via sale or IPO; Wells Fargo hires third-party race auditor

And China’s homeowners rush to offload mortgages.

From Reuters:
Citigroup expects to divest of its Mexican consumer business via sale or an initial public offering by next year.

"We're going to make sure we get the best value for it through a sale or through an alternative exit, an IPO or whatever it takes," CFO Mark Mason said in a Barclays investor conference.

From Reuters:
Wells Fargo is commissioning a third-party racial equity audit as it looks to boost its diversity credentials.

The assessment will be conducted by Covington & Burling LLP, a law firm with experience leading civil rights and racial equity audits across various industries. The
company plans to publish the results of the assessment by the end of 2023.

From Bloomberg:
China’s real estate crisis prompted home buyers across the nation to stop paying mortgages on thousands of stalled developments. But now, another group of Chinese property owners are rushing to prepay their home loans.

The movement to quickly pay off mortgages is an abrupt U-turn for many Chinese people, who used to go all out to borrow funds to buy houses during the real estate boom years. But as the property market slumps, the once sought-after leverage has turned into a burden that some people say they must trim — or even get rid of, reports Bloomberg.