The provision of transaction services in the Middle East has become one of the most fiercely competitive parts of the market, largely concentrated around banks’ ability to support local and regional champions as well as blue-chip multinationals operating in the region.
Some banks are better at servicing one type of client, but others can fully service both national and international firms, providing them with the quality and range of transaction services that enable these companies to thrive intra-regionally and globally.
Among those banks that does this best, Citi is the firm to beat in the region – it not only serves close to 1,100 multinationals actively operating in the Middle East, but over 400 of the region’s corporate and financial-institution champions.
Part of Citi’s strength is its long-held physical presence in the region – Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar and the UAE – combined with a comprehensive transaction-service offering across cash and liquidity management (covering payments, collections and connectivity), trade (spanning documentary services and working-capital trade loans, to supply-chain solutions, sales, receivables financing and bespoke, structured trade solutions), and commercial cards (including purchasing, travel and entertainment, and virtual cards).
Such strengths are fundamental to the power and expertise of the bank’s treasury and trade solutions business. Yet, where Citi also excels is in providing the advanced technology and digital solutions that deliver on the evolving and complex needs of the corporate treasury function.
Banks need to keep innovating, and last year Citi developed and launched an impressive range of solutions, some of which included 24/7 US dollar clearing for financial institutions, the Citi Global Beneficiary Services Payment Tracker, and Citi Token Services (CTS), which aims to use blockchain and smart-contract technologies to provide cross-border payments, liquidity and automated trade-finance solutions on a 24/7 basis.
Citi is the firm to beat in the region – it not only serves close to 1,100 multinationals, but over 400 corporate and financial-institution champions
“Our clients across the Middle East increasingly operate 24/7, so their treasury can’t afford to sleep,” says Marek Potoma, Middle East and Africa head for treasury and trade solutions and corporates, commercial and public sector sales, Citi. “That’s why always-on digital solutions are crucial.”
Citi has also worked on the Regulated Liability Network concept, which explores interoperable digital asset solutions on a multi-bank basis, and deepened its ties with fintechs; it partnered with Traydstream, a provider of trade-documentation solutions, and expanded its relationship with Treasury Intelligence Solutions, a specialist in cloud-native cashflow, liquidity and payments.
All these developments are important, but so too is the bank’s robust infrastructure and ability to provide a range of simple and effective solutions to corporate treasuries. It enables cash-rich companies to benefit from high interest rates and security through deposits in London, New York and the Abu Dhabi Global Market offshore booking centre, where it has a full suite of transaction-banking services.
In addition, the bank’s instant payment capabilities have proved crucial to the rapid development of e-commerce and other new business models in the region.
