Citi to roll out consumer e-payments business in Asia and other markets by Q1 2020

Singapore

CITI is aiming to launch its digital consumer payments business in Asia and elsewhere by the first quarter of 2020, so it can ride the wave of the region's growing flows and digital ecosystems, said a senior executive of the US bank on Thursday.

In an e-mail interview with The Business Times, Rajesh Mehta, the bank's head of treasury and trade solutions for the Asia-Pacific, said: "Citi is targeting to be live in 20 markets across all regions, including Asia, by the first quarter of 2020."

The target is to go live in up to 40 markets over the next three years, he added.

"Consumers today are demanding higher speeds and greater convenience. If one thinks about the popularity of online marketplaces (such as eBay), ride-hailing services (Uber and Grab) and food-delivery industries (Foodpanda), it is not hard to imagine that the on-demand economy is rapidly growing," he said.

"On the back of this trend, our clients' business models are rapidly changing to engage their end-consumers directly, rather than through intermediaries or wholesalers.

"One area that is transforming rapidly is the payments space. It is a key focus area for our clients, as it is for us."

In March, Citi announced the new service that will offer merchants a range of consumer-payment options, such as through credit cards and e-wallets, thus expanding its product portfolio beyond its mainstay business-to-business (B2B) payment offerings.

The move put the bank in the position to capture last-mile C2B (consumer-to-business) flows - that is, payments made by end-consumers to their service providers and merchants. Citi declined to share revenue growth forecasts for the new business.

Mr Mehta said capturing last-mile C2B flows is especially relevant in Asia and Asean, given that a number of countries in these regions will have national real-time payment schemes in place within a year.

He noted that the region has consistently outperformed global growth, with rising wealth creation and domestic consumption driving flows and opportunities for clients.

Citi's treasury and trade solutions business grew global revenues by 6 per cent year on year in the first three months of this year to US$2.4 billion; revenues for Asia went up by double digits over the same period.

This follows last year's 8 per cent growth in global revenues, with Asia-Pacific revenue growing close to a double-digit percentage range.

Across Asean and in Singapore, Citi said the business turned in a good performance for 2018; revenue growth clocked a double-digit percentage increase.

The US bank is the world's largest transaction banking provider, handling US$4 trillion in payments daily.