Citi: Banking on a proud 200-year history

MANILA, Philippines - Back in 1812, New York was plagued by disease, political corruption, and a doddering economy. It wasn’t the bustling, throbbing city — or the famed city that never sleeps — that it is today. Let there be light: The City Bank of New York, forerunner of today’s Citibank, lit up the city amid a bleak political scenario. The new bank supported foreign trade, enabling commerce between New York and Liverpool. In the late 1800s, Citi financed the construction of the Panama Canal, at the request of US President Theodore Roosevelt, saving 15,000 ships a year an 8,000-mile detour. It was one of the greatest engineering feats in human history. In 1865, would you believe it took all of three weeks just to deliver a message from New York to London? Well, Citi changed that, and laid the future of instant communication when it funded the laying of the Transatlantic Cable so that messages could be transmitted between continents in a matter of minutes. In 1948, as the world was emerging from the ashes of war and the demand for fuel oil was on the rise, Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis sought the help of Citi to finance the world’s first supertanker, which would move oil around the world and fuel the global economy.

The rest, as they say, is history — and for Citi, that means a proud history spanning 200 years and counting!

“Citi is 200 years old — and we all take pride in being part of the global team that will take our company to its third century,” says a beaming Sanjiv Vohra, Citi Philippines country officer.“For two centuries, our central mission has been to enable economic progress and to support our clients on their journey from ambition to achievement. We have financed some of the world’s most transformative projects, like the Panama Canal, the Transatlantic Cable, and the jumbo jet.”

Today, Citi, armed with a clear mission and vision, is one of the best capitalized banks in the world that can put its financial strength to work for its clients during challenging and uncertain economic times. 

“Our deep and longstanding presence in the emerging markets provides our clients with access to the expanding economies of these countries,” Vohra notes.  “Given global trends toward urbanization, we are becoming a valuable partner to current and emerging urban centers, focused on supporting the world’s top 150 cities.”

Here at home, Citi is marking its 200-year milestone by celebrating with all its stakeholders in meaningful events.

“However, one celebration will be unique and special,”Vohra adds.  “On our 200th anniversary date on Saturday, June 16, we will hold our Global Community Day — a fitting way for us to celebrate our anniversary by giving back to the communities where we live and work.”

Banking on the strong tradition of volunteerism in the Philippines, Citi took on the collective mammoth mission of building 200 homes, in partnership with Habitat for Humanity, for Filipino families that have been displaced by typhoons.  Hundreds of Citi employees started hammering away last May 26, working every weekend until June 16. With every bead of sweat, they lay brick after brick, doing their bit to build the foundation for a brighter future of the target beneficiaries.

Over the past 200 years, Citi has made a difference in people’s lives. Vohra shares some memorable highlights, “We are passionate about improving people’s lives through innovation.  This is evident from our introduction of the ATM to Google Wallet. We were the first to recognize people’s growing need to bank outside traditional banking hours and in 1977, we pioneered our first ATM in Queens, NY. Today, 90 percent of the world’s population is within a 15-minute walk of an ATM, and ‘banker’s hours’ has become an archaic term. Just last year, Citi teamed up with Google and MasterCard PayPass to pioneer Google Wallet in the US. Google Wallet stores your Citi MasterCard information so you can simply tap your phone wherever PayPass is accepted. It’s a step forward in making our vision for mobile payments a reality and part of our drive to become the world’s digital bank.”

When Citi was looking to expand in Asia, the Philippines was one of the first markets where it invested. One hundred ten years later, Citi continues to invest in its franchise in the country.  “The country’s big population offers a lot of opportunities for growth,” Vohra observes.  “Its strategic location means it is wired to the rest of the world, and plays to our key strength which is global access.”

For more than a century now, Citi has been a part of building this country and enabling its progress.  It’s made possible a great many firsts in the country, among which are as follows: one of the major financiers of the Manila Electric Railroad and Light Company (now Meralco) for the electric railway system; the first bank to reopen in Manila after World War II; major funder of the US$30-million Caltex refinery in Bauan, Batangas — the largest single foreign investment in the country in the ’50s; established the first-term loans in the late 1950s, the precursor of personal and car loans; distributed hundreds of PCs and modems in the early 1980s to promote the convenience of electronic banking; launched the ATM network in the Philippines in the early ’80s to enable round-the-clock banking; introduced the first international credit card issued out of the Philippines — Citibank MasterCard in 1993, followed by more credit card products, some of which are partnerships with leading companies; introduced the first Platinum credit card issued out of the country in 2001; set up 24-hour banking through phone with CitiPhone, the first ever call center facility built in the Philippines; introduced the domestic US dollar clearing system and has since been the only bank mandated by the Bankers Association of the Philippines as settlement bank.  Citi services over 40 of the largest financial institutions in the country, including the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). It’s the first bank to be granted a full derivatives license by BSP, the first to introduce Global Depository Receipts in the Philippines, and the first to launch the Cross-Border Trade Receivables Discounting program.

It created a new currency with Pay with Points, where rewards points earned on Citibank credit cards can be used to pay for purchases in partner stores nationwide. As International Lead Manager, Joint Global Coordinator, and Joint Bookrunner, Citi raised P26.5 billion during the initial public offering of Cebu Air, dubbed the largest Philippine IPO and largest international low-cost carrier IPO. This year, Citi became the first bank to launch a suite of mobile apps for users of Apple, Blackberry, and Android, allowing clients not only to make banking transactions such as pay bills and transfer funds, but also to redeem rewards and learn about discount offers.

Indeed, this Citi never sleeps — and never stops dreaming.