Shared Service Centers to play a key role in Digital Banking

Citi Philippines CEO Aftab Ahmed (3^rd from left), Corporate Banking Head Vikram Singh (2^nd from left), and Treasury and Trade Solutions Head Arlene Nethercott (2^nd from the right), with forum speakers (L-R) Steffanus Widjaja, Swati Mitra, and Narayan Kannan.

The country’s largest foreign bank recently presented groundbreaking digital solutions to clients during its Citi Shared Services Center Forum for 2017.

“Our goal is to be the world’s leading digital bank and deliver a remarkable banking experience to our clients across retail and institutional banking. Rapid disruption is happening and as a bank, we want to make sure that we stay relevant to our clients and their needs,” said Citi Philippines CEO Aftab Ahmed.

In his welcome remarks, Ahmed added that digitization plays an important role in shaping the future of the Shared Service Centers (SSCs). “The Philippines is home to a growing Citi Service Center that provides a wide range of voice and non-voice services to our global network.”

Swati Mitra, Citi’s Global Sales Leader for Emerging Market Corporate Clients & Digital Client Advisory for Treasury and Trade Solutions echoed this during her keynote presentation. “The key macro trends impacting the shared service centers include globalization, digitization, innovation, regulation, volatility and the banking environment.”

The forum which attracted nearly 100 clients that decision makers from Accounts Payable, Human Resources and Procurement, once again provided a platform for thought leaders to share experiences and best practices in supporting global and regional SSCs.

Cross-Currency Payments Product Sales Narayan Kannan shared how the constant changes in business, tax and the global regulatory landscape are driving modifications in the way organizations manage their foreign exchange payment processes towards delivering efficiency. As part of Citi’s commitment to continue to expand its foreign currency footprint, clients in the Philippines can now transact in more than 130+ currencies as part of their cross border payments. This is the latest payment innovation and solution Citi developed to strategically be aligned with our customers treasury policy and to improve client’s efficient working capital. eFX Solutions, Corporate Markets and Securities Services Viriginia Yu demonstrated how the CitiFX Pulse online trading platform and Straight through Processing (STP) enable corporate clients to simplify the execution of Treasury flows, improve process and increase the efficiency of their regional and global centers. Finally, Regional Channel Product Manager for Treasury Trade and Solutions Steffanus Widjaja showcased the common modes of connectivity between corporates and their banks, including the latest client trends and e-banking tools to improve SSC efficiencies.

In 2016, Citi’s Treasury and Trade Solutions processed more than $1.8 trillion globally in client transaction value on CitiDirect BE® Mobile and CitiDirect BE® Tablet. This institutional e-banking platform was ranked #1 in Greenwich Associates' Digital Banking Benchmarking study for the 11th consecutive year.

Citi Philippines’ Treasury and Trade Solutions Country Head Arlene Nethercott credited this to the strong partnership that Citi has with its clients, “This has enabled us to improve the efficiencies on Shared Service Center processing. We are seeing an exciting evolution of the payments landscape in Philippines, which will drive more efficient payment options in the future.”