Five Czech banks have expressed interest in bidding for Citigroup's retail operations in the Czech Republic, newspaper E15 reported on Monday, without citing its sources.

Erste Group's Ceska Sporitelna, Societe Generale's Komercni Banka, KBC's CSOB, Raiffeisenbank and local bank Fio Banka had shown official interest in participating in a tender for the operations, it said.

E15 said the operations comprises services for tens of thousands of customers. Citi is a strong player in the credit card business in the country, it said.

Citigroup Inc said in October it was pulling out of consumer banking in 11 markets, including the Czech Republic.

The bank will keep its corporate banking business in the Czech Republic.