- Citi, which is one of the most well-known financial services organisations operating in the sector, has said that it is going to open up a new documentation platform for customers looking to make cross-border transfers.
- The service will be offered in the key market of South Africa at first, and could have the effect of slashing timeframes by days.
- Senior spokespeople for the company explained that the move was part of a wider strategy for growth – and a way of responding to the rising demand for online buying and selling.
Leading financial services organisation Citi has announced a new digital documentation platform designed to help corporate customers make international payments.
Citi said that it will first launch its new documentation service in South Africa.
Customers there can now access one centralised digital platform that allows them to place cross-border payments and transfers.
They can also use that platform to share all the documents required to have their transfer actioned.
According to some reports, the new service could reduce transaction times by a number of days.
The process will be available on the CitiDirect BE electronic banking platform, which assists customers in a number of ways.
It signposts customers towards the right documentation to provide, and also explains the data obligations involved.
In a statement, a senior leader at the bank described the move as an example of investment in online tech for payments.
Shahmir Khaliq, who serves as the global head of treasury and trade solutions (TTS) at Citi, said that automation played a key role in this new move towards forex and payment service solutions.
“We’re investing heavily in digital technologies and platforms to simplify, integrate and automate our clients’ payment and FX-related activities, end-to-end,” he explained.
“Our ultimate objective is to create frictionless payments that can be delivered electronically and uniformly, 24/7, to any country, via any channel and in any currency,” he said.
He also said that the most recent move was a milestone on the way to meeting that aim.
“This new service brings us a step closer to that goal,” he added.
Another spokesperson for the firm provided further context about the decision.
Amit Agarwal, who is the global head of cross-border payments at the TTS branch of Citi, explained that a rise in online buying and selling was fuelling the need for documentation reform.
“With e-commerce on the rise globally, and electronic payments becoming the norm, it is more important than ever for cross-border payment documentation to keep up with our hyper-connected world,” he said.
Citi is one of the world’s most prominent financial services institutions.
Its institutional services arm has a base in almost 100 nations around the globe as well as trading services in nearly 80 markets.
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