Business Desk
Citi was named Best Bank Overall for Advising Chinese Institutions on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Asiamoney’s New Silk Road finance awards – beating local banks and regional competitors for the accolade.
The award was presented to Beibei Li, Citi’s Global Head of Belt and Road, at the awards ceremony in Singapore recently. Citi was also named Best International Bank for BRI in the Middle East and Africa.
In the editorial write up with the awards, the editors said: “Citi’s presence in 105 of the Belt and Road markets puts it in perfect position to connect Chinese clients.” The write up also highlighted the banks’ local expertise and relationships that are a competitive advantage in supporting clients. “Our BRI capabilities relate to three main phases: development, construction and operations. Across all three we also bring powerful connections: we have been working in China for many decades, developing deep relationships. These help us to support foreign companies entering China and China’s companies expanding abroad,” said Gerry Keefe, Head of Asia Pacific Corporate Banking. “This award is important recognition for the whole team and I would like to thank our clients for the trust they place in Citi for their banking needs. Citi has been facilitating trade, investment and promoting economic progress across the Belt and Road for over 100 years, supporting over 3,500 corporate clients. We are seeing though an increased demand for banking services as more of our global clients increasingly identify and invest in opportunities across the Belt and Road,” said Beibei.
In the last twelve months revenues from supporting clients across the Belt and Road corridors are up 18%. The growth has come from increased corporate and investment banking, cash management, trade, foreign exchange and other flow business as the bank increases its market share with the increase in client activity.
Sectors where the bank has seen strong growth include clients in industries including tech, financial institutions, energy and power. In terms of regional growth - Asia, Middle East, and Central and Eastern Europe all registered above 15 percent client revenue growth in the last twelve months.
