Citi hopes to use the innovation to further establishes itself as a major payments and trade solution.
Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS), Citi has revealed its plans to offer a round-the-clock clearing service to financial institutions under its wings. According to the announcement, Citi will make the clearing service available to its institutional clients by the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2022.
Citi to Adopt 24/7 Business Model, Aims for Faster Cross-Border Payments
With the service, Citi aims to replicate the 24/7 business model which is gradually becoming a mainstay across several industries. The official statement reads:
“Our clients are looking for access to always-on payments capabilities as entire industries shift to 24/7 business models.”
Citi is also looking to join the moving train by offering fastly-executed cross-border payments. This is as firms strive to meet the growing demand for such.
Citi claims that the new service will enable its clients to make USD payments across the financial institutions it covers. That is about 1,500 institutions globally. And the interesting part is that the payments can be made anytime, and on any day, including holidays.
Plans to Include Citi’s Other Clients
Meanwhile, Citi has also revealed that it has similar plans for its other clients as well. Recall that, other than financial institutions, Citi also provides integrated payments, treasury operations, and trade finance services for MNCs and public sector organizations. Per today’s announcement, the ultimate goal of the TTS is to extend the round-the-clock clearing service to all of its clients. However, it assures that the extension would not require adopting any new technology.
Speaking about the firm’s ambitions, the Global Co-Head of Payments and Receivables at Citi’s Treasury and Trade Solutions, Debopama Sen said they are all customer-centric. She said:
“At Citi, we approach everything with a client-first philosophy, focusing on both meeting our clients’ needs now and helping them prepare for the future.”
Furthermore, the official explains that the new clearing service will work across various channels of clients’ choosing. She says Swift is already supported, but APIs are still in the works.
As of writing, Citi operates in nearly 100 countries and about 145 currencies. And with this innovation, the firm further establishes itself as a major payments and trade solution.
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