About Me

My photo
I am former editor of The Banker, a Financial Times publication. I joined the publication in August 2015 as transaction banking and technology editor, was promoted to deputy editor in September 2016 and then to managing editor in April 2019. The crowning glory was my appointment as editor in March 2021, the first female editor in the publication's history. Previously I was features editor at Profit&Loss, editorial director of Treasury Today and editor of gtnews.com. I also worked on Banking Technology, Computer Weekly and IBM Computer Today. I have a BSc from the University of Victoria, Canada.

Friday 24 July 2009

Citi offers white label

News

Citi has partnered with IBM to deliver a white label version of CitiDirect Online Banking, the bank’s web-based banking platform. The service is aimed at financial institutions that are struggling to meet the demand for increasingly sophisticated banking services from their corporate customers.

Francesco Vanni d’Archirafi, global head of cash management at Citi, said the collaboration was driven by a very simple concept. “During the Sibos plenary session on Monday, both Ken Lewis from Bank of America and Swift’s Lazaro Campos spoke about the need for more collaboration,” he said. “Citi and IBM believe this too. By working together we can create value for banks and this is the way to go in the future. We have fantastic technology we can offer to our bank clients so in turn they can serve their corporate customers more efficiently.”

IBM Global Business Services will provide consulting, systems integration, software provision and development, training and ongoing maintenance. June Felix, general manager of global banking solutions and strategy at IBM, said the two organisations had been talking about possible collaborations for four years. “For a long time we have looked at ways in which we can work together,” she said. “It was a matter of finding the right time and now is the right time as corporate clients have become more demanding and many banks are unable to make the appropriate investment to get the functionality that is offered by CitiDirect.”

D’Archirafi said banks’ development budgets are being “sucked up” by regulatory issues such as Basel II, the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive and the Single Euro Payments Area, leaving little left for developing client functionality.

Felix added: “70% of budgets are devoted to compliance issues, but a customer focus is the lifeblood of revenue for banks – if you cannot meet your clients’ demands, you will lose business.”

In other news, Citi has teamed up with Canadian business process services firm CGI to promote a hosted trade services processing and technology infrastructure through the combination of Citi’s international trade finance capabilities with CGI’s Proponix platform. The partnership will provide Citi’s financial institution clients with white labelled outsourcing services for improved efficiency, productivity and configurability.

As a large global financial institution, Citi insources from smaller banks that have a difficult time keeping abreast of fast changing technology. With the hosted Proponix platform, Citi can go to market faster and generate revenue and trade through increased insourcing that its in-house system could not cope with.

No comments:

Post a Comment