Sanjoy Sen

With one of the highest GDP per capita in the world and a growing affluent expatriate and local population, the UAE is well suited for products and services that target the middle and upper class segment.

New UAE head of Consumer Banking at Citibank, Sanjoy Sen notes that 'One of our key strengths is our ability to understand the full range of customer financial needs across their different life stages, and Citibank likes to act as a partner with its customers to meet their financial commitments.'

Investing in people

Citibank has been investing in the expansion of all their operations in UAE but in particular in Wealth Management and Retail banking.

'We have enhanced our proprietary ATM network to 40 units across the UAE, with more in the pipeline, and have introduced the 8am to 8pm branch hours. Plus we have enhanced our staff strength to more than 1500 and are investing heavily in training our people to deliver the best quality service,' says Mr.Sen.

'Our strategy revolves around a firm commitment to continually give customers additional choices in their preferred mode of interaction with us, and to make it even more convenient for them to use our products and services, be it face-to-face, or via our popular remote banking channels such as CitiPhone and Citibank Online Banking.

'Citibank is also in the process of opening up new Wealth Management Centers which will complement their remote banking channels to enable them to reach deeper into the places where customers live, work and shop. These expansion initiatives signify our desire to be to our customers' 24/7 financial partners anytime, and anywhere.'

Mr Sen notes that Citibank's declared mission is to become 'the most respected financial services company in the world'. This is also the rationale behind Citibank's aggressive drive into the Wealth Management market, an area once dominated by independent financial advisors.

Wealth Management

'There is an increasing demand for world class Wealth Management service in this region as many of our clients are becoming increasingly prosperous and are serious about savings', he says. 'But we will only sell products to a client after the most rigorous understanding of their time-frame, objectives and appetite for risk.

'Indeed, Citibank wants a long-term relationship with their clients. We also have to look very carefully at their changing requirements. For example, we find that many clients in the UAE who are of Indian origin want exposure to the Indian market, and we have a full range of such mutual funds, but every product that we offer has to go through a rigorous and stringent due diligence testing by us.'

Citibank UAE is a also a major local provider of personal financial services including personal and auto loans, and is the top issuer of credit cards, according to Visa's latest quarterly member bank statistics.

Its recently launched Citibank Ultima credit card is co-branded with Emirates Airlines, and caters to the most affluent, and comes packed with travel rewards and leisure services that are specially tailored to customers.

'The Citibank Ultima Card represents a paradigm shift in the service provided to our top-tier customers in the UAE with customization features that are unmatched worldwide. This is the Citibank experience that our customers deserve and can only enjoy through Citibank Ultima,' says Mr. Sen.