By VIKRAM KHANNA

Citigroup's Singapore operations are at the cutting edge and are setting the standard in the area of retail banking for the whole of Citi, according to the bank's CEO, Vikram Pandit.

In an interview, Mr Pandit said that Singapore serves as both a regional and global hub for Citi. 'We've always viewed Singapore as an integral part of our broader global strategy, not just our Asia strategy,' he said.

Citi's globally-oriented business here took a quantum jump with the opening on July 21, of a new 200,000 square feet facility at Changi Business Park, which hosts a number of processing hubs and data centres serving Citi's operations in 40 countries. In all, Citi operates in 109 countries.

Mr Pandit, who recently visited Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia to meet Citi staff and clients as well as government officials, spoke highly of the way Citi Singapore has innovated in the retail space.

'Singapore is doing a great job understanding clients and what their needs are,' he said. 'And in terms of how to serve clients, we've found multiple ways of doing that, right from the MRT stations, all the way to bank branches, to remote access, to virtual banking and mobile banking. In many ways, the retail bank of the future is here.'

Citi has aggressively expanded its retail operations since 2005, when it incorporated its consumer banking business locally, forming Citibank Singapore Ltd.

Under its CEO Jonathan Larsen, it has grown its business from four branches and just one offsite ATM, to 22 branches, 150 proprietary ATMs, another 85 shared ATMs and more than 550 Citibank-AXS terminals. In total, it boasts 850 'touchpoints' - points through which customers can do transactions. Last year, Citi saw a 20 per cent rise in total new-to-bank customers.

Citi Singapore has also come up with a number of innovations. Its list of 'firsts' in Singapore include phone banking, priority banking, instant credit cards, two-in-one transit and credit/debit cards, the $500 credit card and the Citi Premier Miles card, which enables credit card holders to accumulate air-miles.

It was also the first bank to establish branches at MRT stations.

A number of these conceived-in-Singapore innovations have been transferred to other markets in which Citi has operations.

For example, the idea of partnering transit operators and offering two-in-one credit and transit cards was transferred to India and Hong Kong and the Citi PremierMiles Card was replicated in Hong Kong, Korea and the Philippines.

Currently, a Citi team from Central European countries is visiting Singapore to study the roll-out of its high-tech branches and other innovations with a view to replicating them in their home markets. In turn, they will share with Citi Singapore some of the innovations developed in central Europe.

This opportunity for mutual learning is one of the great benefits of Citi's global banking franchise. 'It's really important, because we don't need to reinvent,' said Mr Pandit. 'We are in 75 to 100 big cities in the world. The reason we can do that is because we can take the learning from here and put it there.'

'In every business, somewhere around the world, we're setting a standard,' he added. 'In the particular business of retail banking, it is Singapore that is setting the standard.'

This article was first published in The Business Times.