Citibank to use RP as pilot for new products, services in Southeast Asia

MANILA, Philippines - US banking giant Citibank NA said it will use the Philippines as the pilot country for new products and services in the Southeast Asian region, expressing optimism the Philippines will continue to weather the global financial crisis.

Citi Southeast Asia Pacific chief executive officer Piyush Gupta said after their review of the first three months, “the Philippine operations is ahead of our internal plans for the first quarter.”

 He added that majority of economic forecasts indicate positive growth for the Philippines despite the divergence in scale. “We have seen the bottom (of the crisis) albeit it will still remain a challenging year for our top-line growth,” he added.

Citi has been in the forefront of corporate, consumer, transactional and wealth management for the high-valued market and the affluent. In each segment, the US-based financial institution has been among the leaders. It controlled over 60 percent of the consumer business among foreign banking institutions last year.

To increase its competitiveness, Citi started cross-selling this year all its products. That means products that are designed for the consumer market can also be offered to institutional clients.

“We want to know how to maximize our branches in the Philippines,” the Citi executive said.

It is presently rationalizing the 28-branch network of CitiSavings Bank, its thrift bank in the Philippines. It has no plans of opening new branches or applying for licenses this year.

It is also increasing the value of the branches by establishing business centers which it calls retail loan center. It entered into alliances with domestic banks, like Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. and the Philippine National Bank (PNB), for banking services such as bills payments, money transfer, taxes and other payments with government agencies.

“We have to translate all our strengths in all our markets, and reach double digit numbers in the market share,” Gupta added.