Citibank 2011 Annual Report Download - page 6

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Enhancing our clients’ lives through innovation that
harnesses the breadth and depth of our information,
global network and world-class products
Ingenuity
Inventing
the modern
multinational
company
FIRST
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
CORPORATIONS ROUTINELY PERFORM thousands of transactions all
around the world — payments, transfers and deposits — to cultivate new
markets or sustain existing ones. This was impossible before John Rockefeller
saw an opportunity to bring Standard Oil’s surplus oil reserves to China in
1891. Citi established a foreign exchange department to enable Rockefeller
to maintain seamless cross-border cash flows for his Chinese operations.
By 1898, it enabled Standard Oil to pay any sum of money to any industrialized
city in the world within 24 hours. This was the precedent for the modern
multinational company.
Making the
wallet carry its
own weight
DIGITAL WALLET
A PERSON WALKING DOWN the street can use a mobile phone to search
for a restaurant and can use a digital wallet on the phone to retrieve coupons
from establishments within walking distance and pay for a meal — all with a
wave of the hand. The digital wallet is a far cry from the purses and wallets that
people have carried since the creation of money. Developers recognized the
potential of handheld technology to make people’s lives simpler and smarter.
Citi collaborated with Google, MasterCard, Sprint and First Data to introduce the
first widely deployed near-field communication-connected digital wallet in the
U.S. market.
Stripping
barriers
out of the
banking
experience
CITI SMART
BANKING
AT A CITI SMART BANKING BRANCH, a person is greeted by a concierge,
accesses full online banking features at a workstation, views instantly updated
market information on a wall display and receives customer service through
a live video chat. It is a seamless experience and a dramatic departure from
traditional branches, which some people equate with long lines, uneven
service and excessive paperwork. The design comes from the insight that
the most successful bank of the future will be the one that delivers the
greatest customized value to clients in the simplest way. The first Citi Smart
Banking branch, built in Tokyo, was heralded as the top retail bank in Japan
just one year after opening.
Creating
access at
all hours
of the day
ATM
NINETY PERCENT OF THE WORLD’S population lives within a 15-minute
walk from an ATM, making our 24-hour-a-day lives possible. We can go almost
anywhere in the world, at any time of the day or night, and get instant access
to cash to make a purchase, pay for a service or cover a bill. In 1977, when Citi
introduced its first ATM in New York City, there were a miniscule number of
such machines anywhere in the world. Four years later, the convenience of
ATMs doubled Citi’s share of deposits in the market. Today, we have 26,000
ATMs worldwide.