An unrivalled regional network presence, commitment to innovation and consistent support for clients during the pandemic earn Citi the award for CEE’s best bank for transaction services.
The US house leads the way in offering a comprehensive range of digitally enabled treasury, trade and liquidity management solutions to clients across the region, from multinational corporations and financial institutions to public-sector organizations.
The treasury and trade services heads for the clusters that make up this region are Sebastian Kucharek (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania) and Marek Potoma (Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan).
Scalable, flexible and global solutions are delivered by on-the-ground teams and consistent digital channels. Citi has a presence in 10 countries in CEE – Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Turkey, Ukraine and Russia – and non-presence capabilities in a further 12 countries.
This combination of digital and physical proved particularly valuable during the pandemic, as businesses across the region struggled to secure supply chains and source liquidity, while having at the same time to migrate to digital platforms.
In the awards period, businesses across CEE were able to take advantage of a wave of innovation and product enhancements launched by Citi’s treasury and trade solutions (TTS) division.
Notable developments included the transformation of the technology and infrastructure of CitiDirect BE – the group’s digital platform for managing cash, trade and investment activities – into a cloud-capable, micro-services based modular structure with hugely improved efficiency of processes.
The platform now also features Citi Service Insights, a digital service providing clients with a centralized view to open, manage and close all service enquiries globally. The new functionality includes Swift gpi Case Resolution, providing clients with direct access to dynamic interbank query handling across the Swift network.
Another notable launch last year was Citi Fleet Card, which utilizes innovative technology to allow seamless tracking of mileage, receipts and reports. It has already been rolled out in five of Citi’s central and southeastern European markets.
Citi has also been investing heavily to deliver instant payments to institutional clients in CEE, such as pan-regional ride-hailing app Bolt, while a drive to consolidate the bank’s receivables solutions and improve reconciliation processes has proved particularly useful for its many shared service centre clients in the region.
On the trade side, Citi’s combination of deep local knowledge with international expertise was key in keeping supply chains functioning for CEE’s open, globally connected economies throughout the pandemic.
The US bank boasts more than 50 local supplier programmes in the region with more than 1,000 suppliers and participation in more than 21 regional supply chain finance programmes. Meanwhile its liquidity management solutions provided valuable support to businesses navigating the initial stage of the Covid crisis.
This record of innovation and client commitment was reflected in the numbers. In CEE, the TTS division saw revenue growth of $515 million in the awards period, while host-to-host payment volumes more than doubled across the region.
