Citi Asia Pacific Wins Digital Bank of the Year from The Asset Magazine

Citi Asia Pacific was named Digital Bank of the Year by The Asset magazine in its Triple A Digital Awards 2020, recognizing the bank's progress in driving digital adoption, sales, and engagement across 17 markets in Asia Pacific and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Citi's Asia Pacific Consumer Banking business covers 12 markets in Asia Pacific and 5 in EMEA, making up 17 out of Citi's 19 Consumer Banking markets globally. Supporting the Asia Pacific win, Citi was also named Digital Bank of the Year in seven markets—Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, Bahrain and the UAE.

The bank's Consumer Banking franchise in Hong Kong was further recognized for Best Retail Mobile Banking Experience, Best Digital Wealth Management Experience and Best Retail Social Media Banking Experience. Citi Philippines was also awarded Best Retail Mobile Banking Experience while Citi China won Best Financial Artificial Intelligence Project for its Citi China Voice Bot.

Citi Asia Pacific and EMEA Consumer Banking Head Gonzalo Luchetti said: "We are honored to be named Asia Pacific's leading digital bank, recognizing that the advancement we are making in digital banking is leading to customer-led growth. Technology is enabling us to design and create superior and best-in-class experiences, an area we continue to be intensely focused on. Beyond introducing innovative products and services, we want to make banking simple, intuitive and increasingly personalized and we remain committed to delivering these experiences through our digital and mobile platforms and through our expanded network of digital partnerships in the region."

Nearly half of Citi's credit card accounts and over half of new loans are now acquired digitally, with digital loans having grown by 31 percent in 2019. The bank also announced a number of partnerships with leading regional ecosystems including PayTM in India, and Lazada and Grab across multiple markets in Southeast Asia, as it seeks to expand its customer base by about two million over the next few years.

In Retail Banking, one-third of accounts are now digitally acquired. Citi also introduced Remote Account Opening in Hong Kong and progressively rolled out Citibank Global Wallet on mobile in 12 markets during the year. Giving customers access to nine different currencies, Citibank Global Wallet enables users to make purchases overseas or online without incurring additional foreign currency conversation or administrative fees.

By leveraging Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions' WorldLink capabilities, Consumer Banking customers now can make cross-border transfers on mobile in new currencies, taking the total currencies on offer to over 40.

Citi's ongoing digital banking progress continues to underpin its strong performance in the region. The Asia Pacific Consumer Bank recorded a 4 percent year-on-year increase in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2019 to US$1.83 billion. Revenues for the full year 2019 were also up 4 percent year-on-year to US$7.335 billion.