Innovation & Technological Enhancement

 Innovation & Technological Enhancement in Citi

Every day brings an innovation. Whether it’s a new smartwatch, a driverless car, or a nano-robot that can cure diseases, technology is changing every part of our daily lives. Citi Global Perspectives and Solutions is bringing vast knowledge and research of the latest technological developments and innovations to the publications giving insight into the rapidly developing world. Innovation is a key driver in enabling growth and economic progress across the globe, and Citi has always accompanied innovation in its journey, from first ATM in 1977 and mobile payments in 2015 and so on. Currently, 20% of Citi’s revenue is invested for technological advancement and thereby improving the services to their customers.

To improve its operational and service capabilities, Citigroup is embracing a range of emerging technologies, including blockchain, big data, PSD2 & open banking, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence. Over the past few years, Citigroup has participated in a number of important technology partnerships and collaborations, technological breakthroughs and rollouts, as well as technological investments and acquisitions. For instance, in 2021, Citi and Snowflake worked together to offer a frictionless solution for post-trade operations, promote innovation, and reduce risk. Through this agreement, Citi's market knowledge in a proprietary custodian network is combined with Snowflake's safe data sharing and multi-party authorization capabilities on Snowflake's Data Cloud environment.

Among the four major banks that reported earnings this past week, Citigroup was the only one whose second-quarter revenue above analyst estimates. To $19.6 billion, revenue increased by 11%. With the bank signing a deal with a major software vendor to both modernise and migrate its 16 ledger platforms to one cloud-based ledger over a multiyear period, Citi's technology and transformation spend is directed towards unifying its platforms and services in favour of cloud-based solutions.

Reference

·       Citigroup - Enterprise Tech Ecosystem series (2022) Market Research Reports & Consulting | GlobalData UK Ltd. Available at: https://www.globaldata.com/store/report/citigroup-enterprise-tech-analysis/ (Accessed: March 24, 2023).

·       How tech is changing the future of Trade (no date) Institutional Clients Group. Available at: https://icg.citi.com/icghome/what-we-think/treasury-and-trade-solutions/insights/how-tech-is-changing-the-future-of-trade (Accessed: March 25, 2023).

Citi GPS & Poverty Eradications

Tackling SDG1 – No Poverty

The first ever goal of UN SDGs is to end poverty all over the world. Over the past 30 years we could see some reduction in absolute rates of global poverty, yet we need to tackle a high rate of remaining poverty worldwide. Poverty is not an isolated or specific problem; it is still around us and Citi along with SOPHIA Oxford is trying to tackle this problem. To make progress towards poverty reduction, we need to consider ways to mobilize more investors and businesses to adopt this goal.

A collaboration between Citi and SOPHIA Oxford, which was formed by Oxford University as a not-for-profit partner of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) to develop a multidimensional approach to focus mainly on the poverty and well-being and continuous improvement for the same. The OPHI multidimensional poverty approach has been adopted in official measures of poverty by the United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank, and more than 30 countries.

A more effective way of evaluating poverty is the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) by which we can calculate the various forms of poverty such as how the public is experiencing the poverty and the depth of that poverty. 

Food Security Improvement Movement by Citi

As a continuation to its Poverty eradication movement, on February 22,2023 Citi Foundation announced its first ever Global Innovation Challenge to improve the food security. For the improvement of Financial and Mental Health of the low-income families and communities, this challenge supports with $25 million to 50 organizations.

To meet this proposal, Citi is prioritizing in four areas:

Ø  Access: Access to healthy food.

Ø  Affordability: By reducing finance burden improve food affordability.

Ø  Availability: Creation of new jobs and business by addressing challenges in food supply chain.

Ø  Resilience: Increase available resources and respond to disruptions in food security during the crisis.

Most recently in Europe, financial support from the Foundation helped nutritional support for premature infants in Ukraine amidst the conflict.

Reference

·       Eliminating poverty: The importance of a multidimensional approach in ... (no date). Available at: https://sophiaoxford.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/ELIMINATING-POVERTY-The-Importance-of-a-Multidimensional-Approach-in-Tackling-SDG-1.pdf (Accessed: March 16, 2023).

·       Citi Foundation Announces Inaugural Global Innovation Challenge to empower nonprofits improving food security around the world (no date) Global Investment Bank and Financial Services. Available at: https://www.citigroup.com/global/news/press-release/2023/citi-foundation-announces-inaugural-global-innovation-challenge-to-empower-nonprofits-improving-food-security-around-the-world (Accessed: March 16, 2023).

Citi and the Sustainable Development Goals

Citi and SDGs

Given the global footprint and the role in financing economies around the world, Citi has an important role to play in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Citi identified seven goals on which they can show the greatest impact. Citi joined with the UN and other business leaders to create Global Investors for Sustainable Development (GISD) in the year 2019 and promised to address the multi-trillion-dollar shortfall in funding the UN’s goals.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people have the benefit of peace and prosperity. There are 17 SDGs which all are integrated and they recognize that action in one area will affect outcomes in others, and that development must balance social, economic and environmental sustainability.

These 17 interrelated goals represent an ambitious agenda to achieve a sustainable future by 2030. Citi has a role to play in all these goals, yet it decided to concentrate on the below seven goals in which they have a direct impact:

Citi’s 200 years of experience in meeting the world’s toughest challenges are even more relevant today, as sufficient financing will be critical to achieving the SDGs. The energy and climate goals (SDGs 7 and 13), for example, are aligned with Citi’s progress toward $100 Billion Environmental Finance and operational footprint goals. Improving cities continues to be a central tenet of the work and is also central to the resilient infrastructure and sustainable cities goals (SDGs 9 and 11). Promoting economic progress—the emphasis of another one of the goals (SDG 8)—ties directly to the efforts to boost economic and job growth. Gender equality (SDG 5) is also a focus of Citi’s engagement efforts, both with their workforce and in the communities that they support. Citi do all this work through partnerships (SDG 17) with our clients and other stakeholders.

 

Reference

• Banking on 2030: Citi & the Sustainable Development Goals (no date). Available at: https://www.citi.com/citi/about/citizenship/download/Banking-on-2030-Citi-and-the-SDGs-Report.pdf (Accessed: March 12, 2023).
• Financial Services and solutions - about Us (no date) Citi. Available at: https://www.citigroup.com/global/about-us (Accessed: March 12, 2023). 

Citi Group and Sustainability Journey

        Citi Group - A Bank Built for a World of Complexity

Citigroup is an American Multinational Investment banking company and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. Citi has more than 200 years of experience growing businesses and supporting communities and it has a global network of financial services that stretches across more than 160 countries. Citi's mission is to serve as a trusted partner to their clients by responsibly providing financial services that enable growth and economic progress.

We live in an increasingly complex world. Companies these days are either born global or are going global at record speed. Business and geopolitics are forging an entirely new dynamic and consumers now expect financial services to be a seamless part of their digital lives. Citi is a bank that’s uniquely positioned for this moment. Citibank is committed to social responsibility and sustainability and has made significant efforts to support communities and promote environmental sustainability through various initiatives and partnerships.

Citi At a Glance : Fourth Quarter 2022 Results and Key Metrics

 

    Citi and Sustainability Journey

To help responsibly transition to a low-carbon economy, Citi is working with their clients to help decarbonize their business and financing innovative solutions in areas like renewable energy and clean technology. Citi has been on a sustainability journey for several years, with a focus on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. Citi partnered with the Agilent Technologies on its sustainability journey, and this is the first sustainability-linked deposit globally for Agilent to align its treasury operations with its 2050 net-zero commitment by partnering with banks with a portfolio of sustainability initiatives.

“At Agilent, we are committed to sustainability and environmental protection since our founding,” said Sally Shung, Associate Vice President, Assistant Treasurer for APAC and EMEA region, Agilent. “Formalizing this sustainability deposit program in Singapore demonstrates the company’s vision of advancing our ESG commitment, from net-zero emissions to the Science Based Targets initiative of 1.5°C. Our goal is to maximize the positive impact of our business, contributing to the United Nations SDGs in a meaningful way. Agilent is always looking for opportunities to develop innovative sustainable financing solutions and we are proud of our strategic partnership with Citi on this initiative.”

Citi has also been recognized for its sustainability efforts. In 2021, Citi was named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) World Index for the 21st consecutive year, and was also named to the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI) for the seventh year in a row. Funds deposited into Citi’s Sustainable Time Deposit solution are allocated to finance or refinance assets in a portfolio of eligible green and/or social finance projects, based on criteria set in the Citi Green Bond Framework, Social Finance Framework, and Social Bond for Affordable Housing framework. These frameworks support the United Nations SDGs.

REFERENCES

• Financial Services and solutions - about Us (no date) Citi. Available at: https://www.citigroup.com/global/about-us (Accessed: March 5, 2023). 

• Taskforce on climate-related financial disclosures report 2021 (no date). Available at: https://www.citigroup.com/rcs/citigpa/akpublic/storage/public/taskforce-on-climate-related-financial-disclosures-report-2021.pdf?ieNocache=201 (Accessed: March 5, 2023).