Citi named Asia’s Best Digital Bank by Global Finance Magazine

Citi has been recognised as Asia’s Best Digital Bank for 2016 by Global Finance magazine, picking up Best Corporate/Institutional Digital Bank and Best Consumer Digital Bank in the region. Citi retains the awards from 2015.

The annual competition evaluates online and mobile banking applications. Winners were selected based on the strength of strategy for attracting and servicing online customers, success in getting clients to use web offerings, growth of the online customer base, breadth of products offered, evidence of tangible benefits gained from Internet initiatives and web site design and functionality.

“Citi’s goal is to be the world’s leading digital bank and deliver remarkable banking experiences to our clients wherever they are across retail and institutional banking. We have accelerated efforts to transform our model to be simpler, dramatically faster, more scalable and far more digital. Progress to date has been substantial and is delivering meaningful value and results. This award is testament to our digital development and I would like to thank all our clients across the region who place their trust in Citi’s digital offerings,” said Francisco Aristeguieta, CEO for Citi Asia Pacific.

The rapid adoption of mobile and other digital channels has transformed how Citi’s retail clients bank, sign up for cards or loans, pay their bills or invest and for our institutional clients how they trade, invest, manage their cash and pay their bills. The bank now acquires one in four credit cards online in Asia and over half the bank’s institutional FX client business in the region is conducted electronically.

On the Consumer Banking side in Asia, during 2016 Citi launched Voice Biometrics in several markets in Asia to speed up client authentication and refreshed its Global Mobile banking app across the region with over a million downloads in 2016. In November the bank also rolled out APIs to facilitate collaboration and partnerships with Fin Tech companies and consumer brands across the region to benefit customers and launched its new digital wallet, Citi Pay, the same month. During the year Citi also announced digital partnerships with Grab, Lazada and Airbnb in the region to drive growth.

With 15m Consumer clients in Asia, Citi draws 26 million visits, 12 million of them unique to its online consumer properties every month in Asia. Over 50% of clients in Asia are now actively using digital banking channels – up from 30% three years ago.

On the institutional side, CitiDirect BE, Citi’s institutional online banking platform and CitiConnect, Citi’s industry leading connectivity platform offer institutional clients digital services that include CitiDirect BE Mobile and CitiDirect BE Tablet. With banking licenses in over 90 countries and globally integrated technology platforms, Treasury and Trade Services for Citi in Asia continues to lead the way in offering our Asian clients the most comprehensive range of digitally enabled treasury, trade and liquidity management solutions.

In July Global Finance also announced its country awards. Citi was named best consumer digital bank in Australia, India, Philippines and Vietnam. For India this was the eighth year in a row for the consumer digital award.

In the country awards for Corporate/Institutional Banking, Citi was named best digital bank in Australia, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. In the regional sub categories Citi was named best digital bank for Trade Finance Services, Corporate Banking, Information Security, Treasury Services, Mobile Banking and best Mobile Banking app.

Ravin Basnayake, Citi Country Officer Sri Lanka commenting on the country award said, “This important recognition underlines the progress we are making and we will continue to invest in new technology and innovate further to support our valued customer needs”.