Citibank launches global wallet

MANILA, Philippines — Citi Philippines has launched a global wallet that allows customers to make purchases abroad and withdraw cash from Citibank ATMs without incurring additional currency conversion charges.

Manoj Varma, consumer business head at Citi Philippines, said the Citibank Global Wallet is the first bank in the Philippines to give access to customers to eight foreign currencies including the peso, the dollar, euro, Australian dollar, Sterling pound, Japanese yen, Hong Kong dollar and Singapore dollar in one debit Mastercard.

He said benefits include convenience, control and transparency on foreign exchange rates, and there is no additional fees on currency conversion charges.

“Citibank Global Wallet is a key feature embedded in the Citi mobile app. Clients looking for greater convenience can enable this feature. It is hassle free and worry free,” Varma said.

With the Citi mobile® app or Citibank online, existing Citigold and Citi Priority bank account holders could turn on Citibank Global Wallet and open an account in any of the eight foreign currencies in an instant.

To fund their newly opened foreign currency account, they can transfer funds online from their existing dollar or euro account.

Varma added clients could open additional foreign currency account in just one click and there is easy monitoring through the mobile app.

Citibank Global Wallet automatically switches to the relevant currency. So if a customer is travelling to Sydney, all point-of-sale, online transactions and overseas ATM cash withdrawals will be automatically debited from their Australian dollar account as long as there is sufficient balance.

He added Citi is also looking at further expanding the list of foreign currencies allowed in the global wallet.

“The plan is to grow it over time. So I think we do expect to expand it,” he said.

Citi Philippine retail bank head Therese Chan said the Citibank Global Wallet is perfect for travelling overseas, making online purchases and transferring foreign currencies for payments.

“Customers don’t have to go all the way to a bank or to a money changer to exchange foreign currency before a trip. They don’t even have to worry about bringing a big amount of cash with them. They can use the wallet anytime, when visiting family or friends in those countries, or whether travelling for business or for leisure,” Chan said.

Chan said the new product is open to Citi Priority clients with minimum total relationship balance of between P1 million and P4.5 million as well as Citigold clients with a total relationship balance of P4.5 million and above.

Citi Philippine retail bank product head Rene Aguirre said the use of the Citibank Global Wallet would entail huge savings as the debit transaction is charged based on the real foreign exchange rate during the transaction and a slight fee of half a percent.

“So basically that is huge in terms of savings compared to let us say using credit card where you can have fees ranging from three to four percent,” Aguirre said.