Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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In the second part of this series, Lee Lung Nien, CEO of Citibank Bhd shares his plans for the bank. The following is an excerpt from the interview.

 

Personal Wealth: Citibank here seems to be losing a bit of market share … there isn’t as much push as some of your competitors in terms of marketing and sales. 
Lee Lung Nien: Let me give you the real picture of the market in Malaysia. We have been here for over 50 years and today, we lead in the credit card space, with about 20% market share in credit card receivables.

In our securities and fund services (SFS) business, we are No 1 with 38% market share in terms of transaction volume and managed AUC [assets under custody], representing 10.6% of the country’s total market capitalisation. Over the last five years, our deposits and investments have grown by 8% and 16% respectively, and FX [foreign exchange] business by 7% on an annualised basis.

We are well aware of the growing competition and are looking at where we can be stronger and better as one of the best banks in the country. 

What are your current priorities?
There are four areas — people, clients, controls and relationships. For people, morale counts. That is the barometer for me on the kind of work environment we have. If morale is high, they will run fast; staff attrition will be low. Factors that influence this include how well we reward our people.

People are important to me. In the last three months, employee engagement has been my top priority. One of the first things I did was to meet with Citibankers and I had not one but two dialogues to outline our vision and to listen to what our employees had to say. All these are important.

Next, communication with the staff is critical for large organisations like us. Citi has 6,000 employees in Malaysia. Young people especially like opportunities to engage with their senior leaders. I always like to give them that opportunity. To interact with senior management, I have breakfast at our Level 5 café every morning and anyone can come up to me and chat. I like that. 

And do they?
They do, but some won’t come alone. They come with three or four people, and ask how I am. Once they start talking, I find it a very engaging experience. You get a feel of what’s on the ground.

I also walk the floors all the time. Many employees initially wondered about the guy in the suit walking on the technology floor. It is good to get feedback on everything. Information from the staff to senior management usually gets filtered by middle management. By walking the floors and talking to employees, I will know what the issues are. So I try to get feedback and do what’s right for the people. 

During or after lunch time, I walk the banking hall. Sometimes, I get introduced to the customers and I get feedback from them on our service levels. After I get that feedback, I will pick up the phone and start making calls. That’s another thing about me. I pick up the phone and call, there and then. I don’t waste time sending emails. 

Our clients, they are the reason why we are in business. Our advantage is our global network. A Citi client is a global client and has access anywhere at any time. Our clients have access to the New York and London markets and countries like Hungary, Poland and Latin America. We serve more than 200 million customers worldwide in over 160 countries and jurisdictions today. This global access is something we extend to our clients.

In times of uncertainty and volatility, client engagement becomes especially critical. I have told Citibankers to make sure they engage actively with clients. If the client has significant investments and we are in a difficult market, the worst thing to do is not pick up the phone. The right thing to do is to call your clients, engage and explain to them the situation. Advise them on the alternatives they have if their investments are out of the money. 

Customer engagement is important, especially in times of uncertainty. Not everybody is a market practitioner, not all are foreign exchange or derivative experts. This is where Citi should stand out, to be a market leader in this space. In good or bad times, we must be there for our clients. 

Controls are also important. I have been repeating this analogy to employees. If you want to go fast, you must know how to stop. For example, I am into motorsport. I love racing go-karts and cars. Most of us want to go fast. But if you don’t have the proper brakes to match your speed, you are going to crash. This is the same for banking and other organisations too. 

Similarly, when we strive for revenue and market share, we must have the necessary controls and governance to manage the business well. The good thing at Citi is that our governance and policies are of global standard.

Relationships with both internal and external parties need to be cultivated and deepened. You cannot take these for granted. Business sustainability hinges on strong relationships. 

So, to summarise — people, clients, controls and relationships are important in running a smooth organisation. If you notice, I never talk about revenue. I believe that if you do the right thing, this will come. 

In the last two to three years, more banks, especially local ones, have decided that wealth management is where the growth is. This is where foreign banks once led the way. But competition is intensifying.

What are your strategies to ensure that Citibank remains the market leader in this space?
Our best strength is our ability to match innovation with technology and an extensive global network. We have a strong platform here and have demonstrated our competitive advantage. For example, we have enhanced our wealth management proposition with the introduction of an online wealth portfolio tool for CitiGold customers, offering them a global view of their investment portfolio with Citibank.

This includes the performance of individual investment products from the total investment portfolio point of view and the customer’s most recent risk class. With our global reach, we track down quality investment products from around the world to enable customers to enjoy essential diversification and achieve their investment goals.

For example, we continue to expand our investment products and services by capitalising on our partnership in Malaysia with Manulife Asset Management Services, with the launch of the Asia Target Maturity Bond fund. This partnership offers a unique opportunity for our high net worth investors to diversify their investment portfolio. 

Citibank Malaysia is also the first foreign bank to launch the Private Retirement Scheme (PRS) in Malaysia. In addition to that, our relationship managers are supported by a team of experienced specialists in multiple disciplines, such as treasury, bonds and wealth protection. Customers also enjoy access to ideas and insights into Citi’s in-house research and commentary on global and local markets. All in, we have a strong and proven proposition for clients. At the end of the day, trust and reliability count. 
 

 

This article first appeared in personalwealth, a section of The Edge Malaysia, on January 26 - February 1, 2015.

 

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