The Hindu : Business : Citibank offers specialised services for expatriates

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Thursday, Apr 03, 2008
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Citibank offers specialised services for expatriates

Special Correspondent

The innovative offering has been developed following an intensive in-house survey

— PHOTO: SHASHI ASHIWAL

SPECIAL OFFERING: P. S. Jayakumar (left), Country Business Manager Global Consumer Group, and T. R. Ramachandran, Retail Banking Head Global Consumer Group, Citibank, at a press conference in Mumbai on Wednesday.

MUMBAI: Citibank India on Wednesday launched Citibank Account for Expatriates, a comprehensive offering of banking, financial solutions and other relevant value-added services for the rapidly growing expatriate community in India.

“Citibank will be the first bank in India to customise a comprehensive banking and solutions package tailored to expatriate needs. This is the first time ever that Citi has launched such a specialised offering for expatriates in any specific country across the world,” Citibank stated.

Launching this new offering, P. S. Jayakumar, Country Business Manager, Global Consumer Group, Citi India, said, “Our presence across 100 countries coupled with our deep understanding of the local market and alliances with best-in-class partners makes Citibank ideally poised to cater to the needs of the growing expatriate community in India.”

Survey findings

Citibank has developed this innovative offering for the expatriate community following an intensive in-house survey conducted in third quarter of 2007. According to the survey findings, the expatriate community in India is an under-served segment. In contrast to their unique financial needs, the expatriate community was being offered routine banking products and services more suitable for Indian citizens.

“Over 25,000 expatriates come into India each year. A majority of these come into cities where we have a presence and from countries where also we have a significant presence. Our special offering for the expatriate community will go a long way in providing newly arriving and resident foreign nationals in India a much-needed support system in addition to meeting all their banking and financial needs,” Mr. Jayakumar added.

Citibank’s survey further revealed that because of their special requirements and limited understanding of India-specific processes and procedures, the expatriate community was looking for a long-term relationship approach, cultural orientation, product customisation, flexibility in remittances and financial partnership for overcoming location disadvantages. Also, expatriates locating to India often lacked the resources, support and necessary infrastructure to make their lives comfortable immediately on arrival.

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