At Citi, the Operations & Technology function is far from being the back-office support function for the financial institution. It is a key partner to the business in the product design, sales and product delivery.

By Lim Yan Wen

At the leading global financial services company, Operations & Technology (O&T) is seen as a competitive differentiator. It is no surprise then that about 50% of Citi’s workforce in Singapore is in Operations & Technology...

While Citi maintains its industry leadership with quality products and services coupled with excellent customer service, this is made possible with “the best talent, advanced technology and operational excellence,” said Andrew Butcher, Regional Head, Operations & Technology, Citi Asia Pacific.

“Operations and Technology is key to Citi’s continued success and growth strategy. As such, we continue to enhance our operations capability, improve efficiency to handle high volume processing in a cost effective and controlled manner, while retaining the flexibility to meet customized client requirements, ” added Andrew.

Many graduates have found Citi’s focus on O&T rewarding. For Ng Beng Leong, an Electrical Engineering graduate from NUS, who joined Citi in 2005, he has worked on many technology initiatives that have brought him to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India.

Currently an Assistant Manager, Technology (Cash and Trade), Beng Leong enjoys how his role has evolved. “I started out familiarising myself with the technical aspects of applications that I had to support. With that experience, I then went on to developing solutions for internal clients. Now, I manage projects that are focused on system enhancements for the various Cash and Trade applications. My team and I work with the business users to ensure the enhancements are effective. As my users are spread across different countries in Asia Pacific, I gain regional experience quickly,” explained Beng Leong.

Elaborating on how his work in Technology allows him to interact with other departments within Citi, Beng Leong said: “For a technology project that involves changes in many applications, for each of the applications, the users accessing them will be different. So that’s where my interaction with different business roles comes into play. This makes for interesting work and development.”

To fresh graduates who may have the perception that Operations & Technology is mundane compared with other banking functions, Peh Siew Pin, Vice President of Middle Office Operations, Global Transaction Services has this to say: “As I am launching a global product that services global fund managers, I’ve had to liaise frequently with my counterparts in London and New York, as well as clients in Australia. This job has really helped me understand how to interact with other parts of the bank, clients and third parties.”

More is in store for Citi’s Operations & Technology employees. Starting next year, all Operations & Technology employees in Citi will begin to co-locate under one roof at Changi Business Park. “We are committing $220 million in these new premises. It will be a centre of Operations & Technology innovation and excellence for Citi in Asia Pacific, and will cater for future business growth and increase in Operations & Technology functions into Singapore.”

Grooming talent

The new premises will feature a 400,000 square feet, ecofriendly, campus-like environment that can accommodate some 4,000 employees, and is a first for Citi in Singapore and Asia. Such a development is testament to how Citi continues to be focused on and committed to talent development, despite the current global financial crisis.

“Fortunately, Asia has been less impacted by the global financial turmoil and remains a growth region. We continue to hire to meet growing business needs. In the last six months, Citi Operations & Technology in Singapore has hired 21 fresh graduates from NTU, NUS and SMU,” shared Andrew.

According to Andrew, Citi provides an array of development opportunities to bring out the best in its employees, including classroom training, fixed term assignments locally or overseas, job rotations, and mentoring.

For instance, Beng Leong is in a Leadership Development Program (LDP), a prestigious program that identifies and grooms O&T leaders in Asia Pacific. Each LDP associate has to complete two rigorous assignments, the first of which involves a project related role for three months, while the second will move the associate into a line role to develop people management skills for a year.

Beng Leong, who joined Citi after two stints as a summer intern during his studies, is thankful to be the only Singaporean in the current batch of six associates. He said: “I get a lot of exposure, and experiences where I can communicate with senior management. It’s rewarding to see their point of view and learn to see things from a broader perspective, which can be hard when you’re doing day to day work.”

As part of the program, Beng Leong recently visited India, where he had to make sure that all requirements on cash and trade applications were handled and tracked. Over the duration of six months, he had to look at system enhancements for over 30 applications involving different requests and timelines for various business needs.

As for Siew Pin, meeting the requirements of clients allows her to constantly challenge herself as an Operations professional. “Clients are not just looking for a service provider, but expect you to know the markets very well. So the challenge is always how to meet or even exceed their expectations without compromising
on risks,” explained Siew Pin.

MovinG ahead together

Both Siew Pin and Beng Leong describe Citi as a place where opportunities abound, where hard work is rewarded and chances to learn are abundant. “If you want to push yourself beyond your limits, this is a good place for fresh graduates,” said Beng Leong.

Moreover, Citi recognises that efficient growth is vital for the organisation to stay competitive. “We are continually improving the way we operate, and developing more efficient processes to eliminate redundant work so that our people can focus on value-add work,” said Andrew.

With Citi’s broad and diverse range of businesses, existing and future employees can definitely look forward to accessing a multitude of career choices unmatched by any other financial institution.

Click here for jobs in Finance/Investment!