AMMAN -- Citibank sees Jordan as an "island of stability" for expanding its business not only in the local market but to enter other regional countries through the Kingdom.
"Jordan is a stable country that has the right policies and the right stability not only politically but also economically, and it is also very well connected," Mayank Malik, chief executive officer of Citibank Jordan said in an interview with The Jordan Times Sunday, saying the world's largest bank is considering the country as a regional hub and gateway to Iraq, Syria and the Palestinian territories.
Malik said in addition to sound monetary policies in the Kingdom that proved prudent during and after the global financial crisis, Jordan enjoys a high rate of qualified and educated human power.
"Over 90 per cent of the bank's staff are locals while in other regional countries it is the other way around," he noted, adding: "So we look at exploring all the available opportunities in the region and how we can do that from Jordan."
Noting that Citibank, which has been operating in the Kingdom for 37 years, is the only US bank in Jordan and the region, he remarked that there is a lot of potential in the country for the bank, which according to him is the most capitalised financial institution in the world.
Jordan venue for new services
There are two initiatives the bank will be launching soon to expand its business in Jordan. The two initiatives are Local Commercial Banking (LCB) and Global Subsidiaries Group (GSG).
On the LCB programme, Malik explained the services, to be launched formally on February 8, will be oriented to medium-sized companies by studying business needs of these firms providing them with a solution-based services such as advice, loans or guarantees.
"We restricted ourselves to a small segment of clients and concentrated more on highly complicated transactions such as corporate and investment banking through dealing with the upper end of the market," he elaborated.
"Due to the spread of Citibank network over 100 countries, connectivity, technology and product expertise, that was a good strategy that worked well for us. But now we need to move on to the next stage."
The next stage is how to expand the universe of the bank's clients or target market, he said.
This will be a significant growth driver because of the fact that these companies have trade requirements for imports, exports and guarantees and the Citibank is highly positioned because of its presence in over 100 countries, Malik said.
This is the first initiative Citibank is doing in the 53 countries in Europe, Middle East and Africa, he mentioned, remarking that the project, however, will be implemented in a cautious manner as dealing with a large company with sales worth $1 billion is very different from dealing with a company of around $50 million in sales.
"We want to make it work in Jordan and then replicate in other countries," the head of Citibank Jordan said, stating that LCB already exists in the US, EU and Turkey.
He underlined that the approach taken by the bank as it expands its services, which include loans, guarantees and hedging, will be solution-based rather than product-based by extending advice and added value services to corporate clients.
Malik, who assumed his post in Jordan just few months ago, said that a team for the LCB services has already been hired and they underwent training to implement Citibank policies.
In regards to the GSG, he stated the service delivers a full range of working capital and risk management as well as financial solutions, assisting multinational firms in managing their operations around the globe.
He referred to Jordan's Hikmah Pharmaceuticals Company, which has businesses in over 30 countries, as a regional model for firms with operations in worldwide.
"A separate team will look after the GSG business has been hired in Jordan also, which will cover Iraq as well because the whole reconstruction of Iraq will involve multinational companies, so all these firms will be handled from Jordan," the Citibank official said.
Citibank will also consider opening offices in Amman and other cities in the coming months and years, so geographic expansion will be the bank's next step in the country.
"We will probably be doing business in the coming few years more than what we have done over the past 30 years because of the substantial growth we see in the region and due to Jordan's unique location," Malik stated.
In 2010, Citigroup earned $10.6 billion in profits as its revenues totalled $86.6 billion.
Established in 1812, the New York-based global financial services company has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions, according to the bank.
The bank provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services and wealth management.
© Jordan Times 2011
