by Penny Angeles-Tan | Mar 19, 2017 | Business
The country’s leading foreign bank continues its aggressive bid to be the number one digital bank in the country with the launch of new digital partnerships, products, and services.
Citi Philippines latest digital innovation comes in the form of online credit card application and approval program, a first in the Philippines.
David Stoughton, Director for Credit Payment Products
David Stoughton, Director for Credit Payment Products, briefed members of the media this morning, and said their clients can expect to get credit approval online, after they complete the simplified application form and submit digitized copies of required documents.
“We were one of the first banks to launch an online presence and also one of the pioneers in attracting customers through our website,” recalled Stoughton.
“At that time, we were only capturing the information online when they apply, but the processing still takes place offline including the credit review. With this latest service, we are excited to break new ground for the industry and deliver another innovation for the Filipino consumer.”
Apply online and get a digitized reward too!
With the digitized application and approval process, a client will know in minutes if he or she is qualified for a Citi credit card. “This is a game changer as we continue to look at our products and services, and accelerate digitization to deliver remarkable client experiences,” said Stoughton.
Citi also digitized its rewards – clients who prefer to submit applications through promotion booths in shopping centers or travel exhibits because of attractive turn-in gifts will be pleased to discover they won’t be missing out just because they will do it online.
From now until April 30, complete an application online and receive an electronic voucher you can redeem for an Auntie Anne’s pretzel and iced tea. Upon approval, clients who are getting their first Citi credit card and make a purchase of P20,000 or more within 60 days are also eligible to get a Fitbit Charge 2 fitness wristband.
Groundbreaking partnerships with leading digital retailers
Citi also recently unveiled another strategic digital partnership, this time with Amazon. The Philippines will come next after Thailand where credit card holders can now use their Rewards Points to pay for purchases at Amazon.com.
On average, Citi announced a new digital innovation or partnership fortnightly in the last 12 months across Asia. During 2016, Citi announced strategic partnerships in leading digital ecosystems across the region. Some of these included Alipay and WeChat in China and Line in Thailand and Taiwan. The bank also formed digital credit card partnerships with the likes of Airbnb and Uber in various countries. The bank’s social media followers in Asia grew from 3million to over 10million during 2016.
In the Philippines, its regional digital partners include:
- Booky, an offline restaurant finder;
- Zennya, the world’s first spa on-demand app;
- Lazada, the leading online shopping mall in the country;
- and Grab, Southeast Asia’s leading ride-hailing platform, to name a few.
In the country, Citi’s ongoing promotions with leading travel sites including:
- Asiatravel (grab 12% off on hotel bookings until June 30, 2017);
- Agoda (get 10% off on hotel accommodations year-long);
- Expedia (enjoy 8% off until October 2017);
- and Airbnb (on first stay, get P1,800 off until November 15, 2017).
Beyond travel, expect to also enjoy exclusive discounts when shopping online with Citi credit cards.
Banking on a Digital Future
“Our Consumer Bank business in Asia draws some 20 million visits to our online properties every month and between 90 to 95% of all transactions already happens outside a branch,” Stoughton.
He added that regional figures show one out of every four new credit card accounts acquired comes from digital sources and over 50% of clients are actively using digital banking channels, up from 30% three years ago.
Over the past five years, traffic in Citi branches across Asia has declined 50% as digital transactions grew over 100%. While digital banking is not completely replacing the branch experience, the nature of branch interactions is changing, and Citi’s strategy is now aimed at a combination of bricks and clicks.
“In our drive to digital, we have also become the credit card brand that online and mobile retailers prefer. This initiative presents a bright outlook in a country which greatly embraces the growth of online shopping and lifestyle,” added Stoughton.
Over the last year, Citi launched the newly-refreshed Citi Mobile App in Asia featuring easy-to-use functionality and interfaces such as Snapshot and Touch ID which has seen over 2m million downloads to-date. The bank also was the first to launch Voice Biometrics across the region which has since received more than 700,000 sign-ups from customers with over 1m clients consenting.
“We are focused on becoming the world’s leading digital bank, and we will continue to leverage on our global network for strategic partnerships even as we develop and deliver digital products and services,” said Stoughton.
About Citi
Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions.
Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.
Additional information may be found at:
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Oct 6, 2016 | Stories
Citi – the country’s largest foreign bank launches Voice Biometrics in the Philippines, the first bank to roll out this groundbreaking authentication across Asia.
Starting October, clients of Citi Philippines will no longer need to remember passwords, or personal identification numbers, or answer a series of questions to verify their identities. The country’s largest foreign bank is the first bank in Asia to introduce Voice Biometrics, which simply means your voice is now your password.
Voice biometrics – now a reality in Philippine banking
Citi Philippines CEO Aftad Ahmed and Consumer Banking Head Bea Tan announced to the media the introduction of this groundbreaking technology being introduced to the Philippines.
With this launch, Citi’s more than 1 million clients in the country can now enroll in Voice Biometrics and let their voices be the means for authentication of their phone banking transactions.
In the press briefing attended by representatives of traditional media and bloggers Citi’s voice biometrics system was explained and demonstrated in several ways to showcase the level of security voice biometrics can give Citi clients.
First we set up the voice authentication system for one of the audience volunteers. It was a painless experience which lasted only a few minutes.
Next we tried to have one of the female audience members pretend to be someone else and midway through the call the real Citi customer took the phone and continued the call. Here voice authentication was not enough. Given the circumstances the client will either have to do one of two things … hang up and call again or answer a series of 3 to 5 verification questions.
Lastly, we had an existing Citi customer who had already enrolled in voice authentication call the Citi call center.
Aftad Ahmed, Citi Philippines CEO
“We are proud of our strong track record in innovation, and we are delighted to once again take the lead in introducing a game changer in the banking industry,” said Ahmed.
“We are relentlessly focused on making it more convenient for our customers to bank with us. Voice Biometrics will deliver convenience and additional protection for their accounts.”
The voice biometrics authentication capability identifies customers through their voice print, which, similar to a fingerprint, is unique to each person. Citi clients can opt to enroll by recording their voices, which the bank will use to generate and store their voice prints for matching subsequent calls to Citibank. Each voice print will be uniquely tagged and cannot be reverse engineered once stored.
Once available, customers who call into the bank’s contact centers will have their identity automatically verified within 15 seconds or less as they explain their reason for calling. This is a reduction from an average time of around 45 seconds currently or 66% less time spent verifying their details currently.
Bea Tan, Citi Philippines Consumer Banking Head
“Voice biometrics is a great example of how we at Citi listen to our clients and leverage technology to address their concerns,” explained Tan.
“With our client’s agreement, we can digitize their voice print and with a successful registration, the next time they call, we will do away with the three to five questions to verify their identity, which can take between 45 and 60 seconds.”
To date, voice biometrics authentication has been implemented in the following countries in Asia:
- Australia
- Hong Kong
- Malaysia
- Singapore
- Taiwan
It will be rolled out throughout the region in 2016 and 2017 to cover all 12 of Citi’s consumer banking markets in Asia Pacific that represent more than half of the bank’s 19 consumer markets globally.
Citi targets to be the first financial services firm to deploy voice biometrics authentication across Asia Pacific as the bank builds further on its successful innovation in retail banking in the region.
Citi has around 15 million Consumer Banking customers in the region and the bank expects to have at least 1,000,000 customers actively using voice biometrics authentication in the next 12 months. Within three years the bank expects the number of users to grow to 3,000,000.
Asia is an important region for innovation at Citi. Six years ago, the bank launched its new branch design – called Smart Banking – in Asia for the first time. The Smart Banking concept involves using technology, architecture and design and new retail channels to connect customers to their money and provide them with a better way of banking. Over 200 such branches have since been rolled out globally since the Asian launch.
About Citi
Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions.
Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.
For more information about Citi visit their website at www.citigroup.com or any of their social media accounts:
With Citi your voice is your password.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Jul 20, 2016 | Entertainment
Watch thousands of TV shows, movies and more wherever, whenever! As part of its #LovetoClick promotion, Citi is teaming up with iflix to offer their cardholders unlimited access for three whole months on Southeast Asia’s leading Internet TV service.
Now you can invite your family or friends for an exciting entertainment marathon with a vast selection of first-run exclusives, award-winning movies and shows, plus the best in local and regional programs on iflix. You can also catch up on your favorite TV shows, cartoons, comedies, or dramas on the go with iflix’s “download/watch offline” feature, or stream from your laptop, tablet, or mobile phone.
Watch your favorite movies and TV shows at www.iflix.com.
To access this very special promotion, first-time users need to create an account through www.iflix.com to receive three-months of unlimited access along with a one-month free trial, courtesy of Citi.
For Citi cardholders, who are already registered, login through your Facebook or email account for your three additional months of iflix, courtesy of Citi.
How do you avail of unlimited access?
Redeeming vouchers is just as easy!
- Upon login, click “menu” and then “redeem voucher.”
- Input the voucher code “CITI” plus the first six digits of your Citi card (ex. “CITI 123456”).
- Click “submit” to start your three-month unlimited iflix access.
- Upon entering the code, users will then be directed to the homepage.
- To confirm the successful redemption of the voucher, go back to “Menu” and check under “My Account.
This latest perk from Citi will allow cardholders to enjoy iflix’s world-class service, including access to one of the largest TV and movie libraries in the region.
This promotion is valid only until August 7, 2016, so hurry and take advantage.
For more information on this promotion, and to know more about other online privileges exclusive to Citi cardholders, log on to www.citibank.com.ph/lovetoclick or call the 24-hour CitiPhone at 995-9999.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Jul 10, 2016 | Business
Citi has been named the leading Consumer Bank in Asia by AsianInvestor Magazine for its wealth management business. The award was selected by the editorial team of the magazine and was based on the bank’s superior wealth management platform in Asia Pacific.
In the editorial write up accompanying the award, the magazine said: “Citi’s wealth management business in Asia rode out powerful headwinds to enjoy strong performance, partly as a result of its enhanced portfolio management tools, digitalization and client engagements.”
During the last 12 months, Citi continued to enhance its client engagement tools, such as rolling out the Portfolio 360 offering to new markets and launching the new Citigold Diversification Index (CDI). Portfolio 360provides comprehensive investment analytics reports under various stress test scenarios and the CDI assesses client’s portfolio diversification across asset classes. Both have helped further support clients of the bank in the region to assess their portfolios and navigate sometimes challenging markets.
The bank’s client assets under management are now over US$210bn across the 12 markets in Asia where the bank offers consumer banking services.
Product-wise, Citi expanded its open-architecture fund offering to include liquid alternatives, and continued to onboard new funds to offer non-correlated products. It also moved to further enhance the wealth management knowledge of its relationship managers partnering with the prestigious Wharton Business School of the US on a three-year executive education program.
Paul Hodes Managing Director, Head, Wealth Management, Consumer Bank, Asia Pacific Citibank
“A key competitive advantage for Citi is being able to deliver expertise in wealth management by raising the level of advisory through new tools and an expanded product offer via our open architecture platform delivered by a highly skilled team of relationship managers, portfolio counselors and product specialists. It is a real honor to receive the AsianInvestor Consumer Bank award for the fourth-consecutive year as recognition for our team in Asia,” said Paul Hodes, Head of Consumer Banking Wealth Management for Asia Pacific.
In the Philippines, Citi pioneered wealth management in the early 1990s and continues to enjoy a strong market lead with its wide range of products, customized advice and groundbreaking digital platform. Most recently, it launched Citi Model Portfolio, a diversification and asset allocation guide designed to aid clients to make informed investment choices.
Bea Tan
Citibank Philippines
“Coming after the introduction of the online Insurance Gap calculator, which allows our clients to find out in minutes if they’ve done enough to protect themselves and their families financially, the Citi Model Portfolio once again empowers our customers to make decisions to grow their wealth and secure their future. All these showcase our commitment to our clients, and that we value their choice of Citi as their financial partner,” said Bea Tan, Head of Consumer Banking for Citi Philippines.
Citi also recently unveiled another strategic digital partnership, this time with Amazon. The Philippines will come next after Thailand where credit card holders can now use their Rewards Points to pay for purchases at Amazon.com.
“Our Consumer Bank business in Asia draws some 20 million visits to our online properties every month and between 90 to 95% of all transactions already happens outside a branch,” Stoughton.
Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions.
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