Citi, while an indisputable member of the banking old guard, has established itself as a vanguard innovator in Singapore’s hyper-competitive banking sector. The financial services group has garnered multiple awards in recent years for its innovations, consistently recognised by peers for its digital and customer service excellence.

At our Future of Financial Services Singapore 2024 conference, Gourab Kundu, Head of Digital Growth for Asia South at Citi Wealth, underscored the importance of human-centred design and a progressive customer engagement framework – a continuous innovation model fueled by input from employees and customers.

In our follow-up one-on-one, we sat down with Kundu to further explore Citi’s digital great leap forward and next-gen front-line service innovations inspired by this framework, as well as how the financial services giant is reinforcing its digital foundations for the next evolution in banking technologies.

FST Media: Citi has frequently been recognised as one of the top banks for digital innovation and customer service excellence. What in your mind sets Citi apart when it comes to delivering exceptional digital and customer experiences?

Kundu: At Citibank, we are strategic in enhancing our customers’ experience through human-centred digital transformation.

We focus on the voice of the customer and employee engagement to streamline internal and external processes.

We place equal emphasis on transforming the experience for both employees and customers, because when employees have the right tools, resources and streamlined processes, they can deliver effective and more personalised service.

For customers, our platforms are designed for a simple and seamless experience.

This synergy between empowered employees and satisfied customers consistently drives stronger outcomes for us.

FST Media: Are there any programs, services or projects that you are particularly proud to have delivered?

Kundu: Rather than relying on one big project, our success is driven by the collective impact of many incremental improvements.

We consistently engage with our customers and employees through immersion sessions and feedback loops, allowing us to prioritise the most meaningful innovations. This has led to features like secure communications through WhatsApp Symphony integration and a more efficient live chat response system for our clients.

Additionally, we measure effectiveness through our Net Promoter Scores (NPS) and quantifiable dollar value, ensuring each improvement delivers real, tangible benefits. This thoughtful approach has set a high industry standard for both employee and customer satisfaction.

We strategically integrate technology with personalised service that accelerates our digital growth and gives exceptional value to our clients.

Ultimately, our success story has been demonstrated by the significant increase in our digital adoption metrics in recent years.

Among these key performance metrics include:

• a 7 per cent increase in 90-day digital active users
• a 5.4 per cent increase in 30-day mobile and financial active users
• a 97 per cent increase in new customers who are digitally active on Day 1
• in Singapore, every four in five of our customers use the Citibank Online and the Citi Mobile® App; and
• 85 per cent of all transactions are done online.

This was all made possible due to the successful enhancements and initiatives launched this year. Among these include:

Digital Wealth Solutions

• Investment Funds journey revamp: Introduced the new landing page with Top Ranked funds, Watchlist, Fund Filters and end-to-end revamp of mutual funds journey to the Citi Mobile® App. The recently added features provide clients with in-depth analytics, and have led to a 60 per cent increase in revenue.
• eBrokerage journey improvements: We further enhanced our design, user experience and platform stability on the Citi Mobile® App so that clients to trade equities seamlessly on-the-go. Over the past year, we have built capabilities to allow clients to top up funds more easily, open their brokerage accounts within minutes, search for stocks easily through our predictive search technology and minimise client drop-offs with upfront clear error checking.
• Amplified Citibank Global Wallet (CGW) experience: We have launched an enhanced landing page with a single convenient view of all CGW settings where clients can easily enable top-ups.
  This helps our customers to make overseas purchases at point-of-sale or online and withdraw cash from Citi proprietary ATMs without incurring additional foreign currency conversion fees and admin fees more easily.
  Banking Made Easy
• Enhanced Relationship Manager (RM) Engagement – Chat with RM: We understand the importance of meaningful interactions between our clients and RMs. To maximise the value of these interactions, we introduced a new RM communication model on the Citi Mobile® App which allows our Citigold and Citigold Private Clients to choose between chatting with their RM or a Citi Phone Officer (CPO) based on their query’s nature.  Since launching this feature, we have seen a 10-fold net interaction gain with RMs and chats routed to CPO. This initiative continuously improves RM time efficiency and optimises client interactions which is evident as the Representative Satisfaction (RSAT) score has jumped from 26 per cent in the 1.5 months since the launch.
• Expanding Cross Border Instant Payments (CBIP): In 2023, we took a significant leap in its international transfers capability by introducing CBIP, which allows international account-to-account remittances to occur at near-real-time speed from Citi to any other bank in the destination country. This capability was launched for instant transfers to the United Kingdom and Thailand bank accounts. In 2024, we included Indian bank accounts, empowering our clients who frequently send international transfers to take advantage of conducive FX rates instantly without relying on cross-border settlement delays.
• Connect with Us: Our Citi Mobile® App chat feature, ‘Connect with Us’ further enhances the customer experience by allowing clients to easily connect via the app without the need for a phone call. This feature lets customers conveniently perform banking transactions, request fee waivers and resolve queries directly through the app. ‘Connect with Us’ ensures that clients have quick and easy access to essential banking services.

Being Safe and Secure, always

• Money Lock is a feature available on the Citi Mobile® App and Citibank Online that allows customers to lock their funds in existing CASA accounts which cannot be digitally transferred out to prevent unauthorised transactions.

FST Media: Digital banking service outages have been a concern across Singapore in the last year, impacting customer trust and service reliability. How have these challenges influenced Citi’s approach to developing and improving its digital services, and what steps are you taking to ensure greater resilience and customer satisfaction?

Kundu: We recognise that service reliability is fundamental to maintaining customer trust and serves as the foundation for a meaningful long-term relationship with our clients.

The industry-wide challenges have reinforced our commitment to building robust, resilient digital infrastructure.

We’ve implemented a comprehensive approach to strengthen our digital service delivery and ensure consistent platform availability.

Our strategy focuses on three key pillars: technological resilience, operational excellence, and collaborative security.

We’ve enhanced our technology release management framework with structured update cycles and rigorous testing protocols to minimise service disruptions. This is complemented by strengthened vendor governance and enhanced monitoring systems to proactively identify and address potential issues.

We’ve also intensified our collaboration with regulatory bodies and industry partners through active participation in various working groups focused on anti-scam and anti-phishing initiatives. This collective approach to sharing threat intelligence and best practices helps us stay ahead of emerging risks. And, we’ve implemented additional layers of governance at critical process touchpoints and workflows.

Ensuring 24/7 availability and a seamless customer experience is our core mission. To deliver on this, we implemented:

• Regular simulations and testing – We engage in regular business continuity exercises. Additionally, any new project delivery to production undergoes a rigorous testing and approvals process.
• Diverse operational strategies – Our robust technology release management system ensures that we deploy a new version of the app every three weeks. This proactive approach ensures that our digital platforms are constantly upgraded with the latest security enhancements.
• Strict adherence to regulatory standards – All technology enhancements go through regular rigorous internal approval procedures to ensure that we are always aligned with the highest regulatory standards.
• Comprehensive workforce development – Employees are regularly trained on industry best practices.

FST Media: Citi’s decision to close its last physical branch by the end of the month reflects a concerted shift towards digital, online, and self-service platforms. How will this move enhance the overall digital banking experience for customers, and what accessibility concerns have been considered to ensure all customers can easily transition to and benefit from these digital services?

Kundu: Foremost, we have enriched our mobile app. Through strategic planning, we have launched a series of servicing capabilities:

• Foreign address and mobile number update: Customers with old foreign addresses/mobile numbers can now update their demographics seamlessly on the app.
• Submit wealth enabler forms: Clients can now easily submit wealth enabler forms such as W-8BEN, Common Reporting Standard (CRS), Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), and more.
• Brokerage account opening: We’ve launched a frictionless, STP account opening process for our e-brokerage investment journey on the app. Since its launch, clients are able to seamlessly open a trading account in less than five minutes and we have seen a six-fold improvement in the volume.

For our Citigold and Citigold Private Clients, our enhancements include:

• Ultra-high net worth digital onboarding for Ultima Credit Card: Aligned with our strategy to expand our relationship with Ultra High Net Worth (UHNW) clients, we launched a digital onboarding experience for the exclusive, invite-only Ultima card. Leveraging MyInfo via Singpass, the new, digitised experience enables straight-through processing for Ultima card applications and reduces approval time from two to three weeks to two days. Once a client is invited to apply, applications can either be self-directed/completed by the client or RM. Upon approval, clients can immediately start using the digital card for purchases until the physical card is personally delivered. With its launch, the average turnaround time for Welcome Pack and physical card delivery was reduced to five days – a 50 per cent reduction in turnaround time (TAT) from an earlier TAT of 11 to 14 days.
• Strong wealth capabilities: Over the past few years, we have built some cutting-edge wealth capabilities which include brokerage, investment funds, foreign exchange, premium account, and bonds functionalities.

FST Media: Looking ahead to the next five years, what do you envision for the future of digital banking at Citibank and in Singapore more broadly? What major trends do you believe will drive the evolution of digital banking, and how is Citi positioning itself to stay at the forefront of these changes?

Kundu: Over the next five years, the future of digital banking at Citibank – and in Singapore overall – will likely revolve around a few core trends.

First, while digital experiences are now essential, the real focus will be on adding value through personalised, thematic information that resonates with individual clients. In digital wealth, evolving client behaviours mean that relevant, engaging content is becoming more crucial than ever.

Beyond technology itself, the way we deliver these experiences – whether online or in-person – will define client relationships.

We’re entering an era of hybrid experiences where each interaction, digital or offline, plays a unique role in delivering a cohesive, seamless experience.

At Citi, we’re gearing up to meet these shifts head-on by prioritising personalisation, hybrid engagement, and meaningful, value-added interactions. ■