Citi named best foreign bank

MANILA, Philippines - Citi Philippines was recently awarded Best Foreign Commercial Bank for 2013 by Hong Kong-based FinanceAsia magazine.

This is the 15th consecutive win for the country’s largest foreign bank at the annual Country Award for Achievement staged by FinanceAsia, one of the region’s foremost financial publications.

Citi country officer for the Philippines Batara Sianturi thanked the organizers for the recognition, which acknowledges the strength of the bank’s franchise and legacy of success in the country. Citi Philippines has consistently won this award since it was introduced by FinanceAsia in 1998.

“We proudly share this achievement with all our clients and partners. We are deeply honored by their continued trust and confidence in Citi, which fuels our commitment to always deliver best in class products and services,” said Sianturi.

The editors of FinanceAsia cited Citi’s strong financial performance, registering a double-digit growth in 2012 despite facing tough challenges globally. â€œThis was partly a result of improved efficiency, which allowed the bank to reduce its cost-to-income ratio even as headcount grew across all businesses in the country.”

Today, Citi has nearly 6,500 employees in the Philippines and is also the only foreign bank that consistently ranks among the top 10 commercial banks in the country.

Its commitment to innovation did not go unnoticed by the editors, including its prepaid cards platform for cash management clients, “an area in which it is a clear leader, providing the most comprehensive and advanced range of cash management, trade services and global securities and funds services.”

In 2012, Citi also redefined the banking experience of consumers with the launch of a smart banking flagship branch. Here, visitors are welcomed by a 15-foot interactive media wall that displays a diverse range of product information as well as services menu. Other firsts include fully-wired workstations that allow customers to conduct banking transactions such as opening an account virtually paperless and at their own pace, and video chat facilities for immediate access to the bank’s officers in other locations.

Early this year, Citi unveiled the next-generation banking channel dubbed Citibank Express in three select markets in Asia, including the Philippines.

The Citibank Express is a “smart banking” machine that allows customers to do almost all of their banking including opening accounts and applying for loans, cards and cashier’s checks. It is equipped with an online banking connection, video-conferencing and biometric capabilities for customer identity authentication. A customer can start a transaction on a computer or mobile device and complete it on Citibank Express — and vice versa.

Citi has a dominant consumer banking presence in the country that spans leadership in credit cards and wealth management, and a growing consumer finance portfolio. The bank has more than one million credit cards in circulation with a leading market share in issuing sales.