Citigroup Korea is set to launch a new wealth management offering that targets the country's growing high net worth individual market, the Korea Herald reports. 

The company currently operates a wholesale-based brokerage unit for institutional investors, Citigroup Global Markets Korea Securities, and is now seeking to introduce retail-based advisory services. It is believed that Vikram Pandit, chief executive of its US-based parent Citigroup, will meet with the financial regulator in February during his scheduled visit to Seoul. 

"The project will be based on 'green field investment,' under which the group will create the unit, rather than 'brown field investment' to acquire a securities firm," said Ha Yung-ku, chief executive of Citigroup Korea and Citibank Korea, in an interview with the news service. 

Citi is one of the eight banks that came under fire in Korea last week for allegedly unlawful sales practices. The Financial Supervisory Service, the financial industry watchdog, is planning a regular inspection of the bank's local operations this year. The regulator declined to comment on the details of the review.