Building a winning team

ASK Michael Zink, Citi's top officer in Singapore, how the banking juggernaut can survive as an institution, and the answer is straightforward. "Our employees must be engaged, and our clients have to trust us," says Mr Zink, head of Asean and Citi country officer, Singapore.

When employees are inspired and clients trust the bank, everything else - technology, capital and liquidity - will fall into place, he says. "We have to engage our employee base and keep the learning curve steep. We have to give them internal mobility opportunities across functions and for some, around the world so that they want to stay," Mr Zink says.

"We take 200 fresh graduates a year from Singapore regardless of the economic cycle. We also favour internal promotion over external recruitment," Mr Zink adds. Citi makes a deliberate commitment to attract and develop talent to their full potential, while encouraging them to collaborate with one another, he says.