Citi Launches Innovation Lab in London

London – Citi is expanding the network of its Global Innovation Labs with the opening of a new hub in London.

Headquartered at the WeWork offices in Moorgate, Citi's London Innovation Lab will initially employ 75 technologists from a variety of backgrounds with a focus on software development skills across a wide range of sectors and disciplines. The London Lab will also host the EMEA operations of Citi Ventures, the team in charge of venture capital investing and external partnerships driving innovation, as well as Citi's D10XSM Program, an internal strategic growth model that enables Citi employees to take new business ideas from concept to launch.

The London Lab will support Citi's Markets and Securities Services business globally with a focus on building competitive advantage for clients through solutions leveraging advanced technologies, including data science and visualization as well as high performance computing.

Citi established its first innovation Lab in Dublin in 2009 and has since expanded the network of its Global Innovation Labs to strategic locations including Israel, Singapore and Mexico, with more than 250 senior technologists globally. Citi's Global Innovation Labs promote rapid research, experimentation and prototyping of next-generation solutions that will deliver value to clients.

"The financial services industry has historically been a large user of technology," Paco Ybarra, Global Head of Markets and Securities Services, said. "We have always invested heavily in digital, but what we are seeing now is a step-change in both the investment we dedicate to technology and the pace of the evolution. The addition of London to our network of Global Innovation Labs highlights our commitment to the UK as a strategic hub for innovation".

Citi's Markets and Securities Services business continuously invests in a wide range of global FinTech and market structure companies with recent investment in UK-based companies including distributed ledger technology providers Cobalt and R3.

"A critical part of our innovation strategy is to establish strong partnerships and attract the industry's top talent in technology to deliver the best financial services platform to our clients, Stuart Riley, Global Head of Operations and Technology for Markets and Securities Services, said. "Our Innovation Labs are a powerful way to achieve this goal and plug into the local innovation ecosystems. As we look to further increase our investment and develop more cutting-edge technologies for our clients, we are thrilled to launch a new Lab in London and tap the U.K.'s deep pool of diverse talent to hire advanced technologists with a strong business background."

Citi's Markets and Securities Services business currently employs more than 10, 000 people working in technology.

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.

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Citi Ventures
Citi Ventures ignites change and reimagines solutions that drive economic progress for clients. Headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices in San Francisco, New York, London and Tel Aviv, Citi Ventures accelerates discovery of new sources of value by exploring, incubating and investing in new ideas, in partnership with Citi colleagues, our clients, and the innovation ecosystem. For more information visit: http://ventures.citi.com/