Next Generation Collaborative Online Banking Platform Leverages New Technologies to Deliver Enhanced Features and Functionality
HONG KONG -- (BUSINESS WIRE) --
Citi today announced the launch of CitiDirect® BE, its next generation collaborative online banking platform for institutions. The new service from Citi's Global Transaction Services puts more visibility and control in the hands of clients, from small businesses to large multinational companies, seeking greater efficiency around their end-to-end banking processes. These institutions are relying on their banks to provide extended tools and information.
Building on the award-winning CitiDirect® Online Banking platform first introduced in 1999, CitiDirect BE, in which "BE" represents "Banking Evolution", will provide a new diverse set of functionality beyond traditional transaction management and reporting. It will include capabilities for sophisticated analytics and user-generated content, a media/video channel as well as Citi's innovative Electronic Bank Account Management offering. In addition to these new features, CitiDirect BE makes these tools available via multiple delivery channels corporate clients require, including a web portal, a la carte web services, straight-through connectivity via SWIFT or the Internet, as well as mobile devices.
"Citi has always been at the forefront of technology innovation particularly in online banking," said Francesco Vanni d'Archirafi, CEO of Citi's Global Transaction Services business. "CitiDirect BE was designed in partnership with our best clients and best-in-class technology providers, including Microsoft, and represents a radical departure from traditional electronic banking. We have focused on expanding the array of information, analytics and collaboration tools that enable our clients to improve their treasury processes and interact with us with much greater ease, and for our solutions to easily plug and play within our clients' infrastructure."
Jacob Jegher, Senior Analyst, Celent said: "Given how quickly the Internet and customer expectations are morphing, Celent believes that a dramatic shift will take place at most banks over the next three years. Banks are recognizing the requirement to change and will completely alter their corporate online banking experiences."
Next Generation Portal -- CitiDirect BE takes advantage of the latest portal and service architecture technologies, including Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise Edition, to provide an enriched experience for users. The service can be customized easily for multiple users at large or small institutions, providing permission's-based access to different levels of content and transaction-related activities. Clients from a CFO to a junior administrator, can easily see and do specifically what they need to in order to get their job done efficiently.
Electronic Bank Account Management - eBAM -- CitiDirect BE delivers an Electronic Bank Account Management module (eBAM), enabling clients to reduce the paper and duplication associated with account related events such as incremental account openings, signatory management and account maintenance, across multiple legal entities and / or accounts.
"For example, corporate treasury departments can use CitiDirect BE to significantly reduce the time to open and maintain bank accounts," said Gary Greenwald, Chief Innovation Officer of Citi's Global Transaction Services business. "By making use of digital signatures, they can automate what historically have been paper-intensive processes, achieving greater efficiency, visibility and control as well as enhanced auditing procedures to meet regulatory requirements."
Click here to see video of Gary Greenwald explaining the advantages of CitiDirect BE: http://a4.g.akamai.net/7/4/22231/v001/citimediaftp.download.akamai.com/22231/citimediashare/CitiDirectBE/GARY_GREENWALD_VIDEO_RELEASE1.wmv
Analytics -- CitiDirect BE moves beyond traditional information reporting to provide extended capabilities for the creation and delivery of analytics, including dashboards of metrics, time series analysis and drill down to the underlying data. The analytics capabilities provide improved control and management of financial flows through trend analytics and business intelligence on areas ranging from operational processes like straight through processing and repair rates, to liquidity and working capital metrics.
"These tools make it easier for companies to analyze a wide range of parameters within their operational, payments and liquidity processes," says Greenwald. "For example, they can track trends in straight through processing rates, monitor receivables across channels, and analyze cash positions across currencies. The tools in CitiDirect BE enable companies to identify the right metrics within their data flows to make their processes more efficient - and to benchmark those processes to best practices in their industry."
Media Channel -- CitiDirect BE also features extensive knowledge management and collaboration capabilities. In addition to enhanced online training and user support, CitiDirect BE features extensive video-based content created by experts across Citi's 100+ country network which provides users with a central repository of unique, insightful and relevant information on critical topics in treasury and trade services.
"There are significant benefits of delivering a regular and rich stream of insight using video, with searching and pre-registering capability to ensure only the right information is delivered" says Greenwald. "We capture the expertise of Citi staff throughout the globe and push out this information in real time, reacting to current events in a way that benefits our clients."
"Citi offers market-leading Internet and electronic banking products to its corporate and commercial clients globally," says Marc Harrison, a consultant with Greenwich Associates. "CitiDirect BE is a truly next generation product that seamlessly integrates multiple lines of business for the bank, resulting in a superior client experience. A unique element to the platform has to be the Media Channel with its rich content that shows Citi's true global reach and experience."
Technologies -- The CitiDirect BE platform is based on a service-oriented architecture (SOA) and open standards. The enhanced flexibility provided in Citi's portal infrastructure and modular technology, based on Web 2.0 technologies, creates opportunities for the white labeling of the platform to other banks. This means, for example, that correspondent banks can leverage Citi's industry leading treasury and trade services platform under their own brand while taking advantage of Citi's geographic footprint, regulatory compliance and backend processing.
Global Transaction Services, a division of Citi's Institutional Clients Group offers integrated cash management, trade, and securities and fund services to multinational corporations, financial institutions and public sector organizations around the world. With a network spanning over 100 countries, Citi's Global Transaction Services supports over 65,000 clients. As of the second quarter of 2009, it held on average $288 billion in liability balances and $11.1 trillion in assets under custody.
About Citi
Citi, the leading global financial services company, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 140 countries. Through Citicorp and Citi Holdings, 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, and wealth management. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com or www.citi.com.
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CONTACT:
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Nina Das
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Email: nina.das@citi.com