Citi has been named the leading Consumer Bank in Asia by AsianInvestor Magazine for its wealth management business. The award was selected by the editorial team of the magazine and was based on the bank’s superior wealth management platform in Asia Pacific.
In the editorial write up accompanying the award, the magazine said: “Citi’s wealth management business in Asia rode out powerful headwinds to enjoy strong performance, partly as a result of its enhanced portfolio management tools, digitalization and client engagements.”
During the last 12 months, Citi continued to enhance its client engagement tools, such as rolling out the Portfolio 360 offering to new markets and launching the new Citigold Diversification Index (CDI). Portfolio 360 provides comprehensive investment analytics reports under various stress test scenarios and the CDI assesses client’s portfolio diversification across asset classes. Both have helped further support clients of the bank in the region to assess their portfolios and navigate sometimes challenging markets.
The bank’s client assets under management are now over US$210bn across the 12 markets in Asia where the bank offers consumer banking services.
Product-wise, Citi expanded its open-architecture fund offering to include liquid alternatives, and continued to onboard new funds to offer non-correlated products. It also moved to further enhance the wealth management knowledge of its relationship managers partnering with the prestigious Wharton Business School of the US on a three-year executive education programme.
“A key competitive advantage for Citi is being able to deliver expertise in wealth management by raising the level of advisory through new tools and an expanded product offer via our open architecture platform delivered by a highly skilled team of relationship managers, portfolio counselors and product specialists. It is a real honor to receive the AsianInvestor Consumer Bank award for the fourth-consecutive year as recognition for our team in Asia,” said Paul Hodes, Head of Consumer Banking Wealth Management for Asia Pacific.
In the Philippines, Citi pioneered wealth management in the early 1990s and continues to enjoy a strong market lead with its wide range of products, customized advice and groundbreaking digital platform. Most recently, it launched Citi Model Portfolio, a diversification and asset allocation guide designed to aid clients to make informed investment choices.
“Coming after the introduction of the online Insurance Gap calculator, which allows our clients to find out in minutes if they’ve done enough to protect themselves and their families financially, the Citi Model Portfolio once again empowers our customers to make decisions to grow their wealth and secure their future. All these showcase our commitment to our clients, and that we value their choice of Citi as their financial partner,” said Bea Tan, Head of Consumer Banking for Citi Philippines.