Dubai: Citi, as part of realigning its consumer banking strategy across all its markets with focus on emerging affluent and affluent customers has set strong growth targets for the UAE and Gulf markets, said Francisco Aristeguieta, CEO of Citi, Asia.

Citi’s wealth management business is part of its consumer banking franchise in the UAE, which in Asia Pacific comprises 12 markets and five in Europe Middle East Africa (EMEA).

The wealth management consumer banking business in the UAE is targeting double digit growth in all segments of business. The bank is looking to acquire more emerging affluent and affluent clients in the UAE, who it serves through its brand umbrella of Citigold and Citigold Private Client.

Collectively, these propositions cater to clients from $200,000 to $15,000,000 in investable assets. As part of its new strategy, in the UAE and the region, Citi recently announced the opening of its first Citigold and Citi Private Client Lounge in Dubai to provide enhanced wealth management services. The lounge will be officially open for customers from mid-March.

“Our growth strategy in the UAE is fundamentally similar to that we have deployed in Asia where growth is driven largely by our digital, open architecture platforms. Our approach is both simplified and digitised. We recognise that our clients are faster adopters of technology, although their preferences across our 17 markets differ,” said Aristeguieta.

While digitisation is at the core of Citi’s consumer strategy across Asia Pacific and EMEA, Aristeguieta said the redefinition of the consumer strategy is driven by its relevance to the target audience across 17 different markets in these two regions. The bank has thrown open its APIs [application program interface, a method of accessing somebody else’s service without leaving your own app or site] to partner with a number of nonbank partners to meet customer aspirations.

Across Asia Citi’s non-bank partners include companies such as Alipay and WeChat in China, Line in Thailand,, Grab and Lazada in Singapore etc. In the UAE, the bank has replicated the strategy by launching digital partnerships with prominent local players like Zomato, Careem, Dubizzle, Deliveroo and Cobone.

Wealth hubs

Citi operates nearly 70 wealth hubs across Asia. The bank recently opened one such centre in Dubai located in the upscale Jumeriah neighbourhood. The Citigold and Citigold Private Client Lounge covers close to 4,000 square feet and is equipped with private meeting rooms, two ATMs, as well as facilities to host client events and investment research updates.

The centre will be a hub for more than 35 trained wealth management relationship managers and portfolio counsellors, who will be able to assist clients with their wealth management needs. Clients will receive personalised wealth management services from experienced relationship managers, who will handle only a small number of clients to enable them to pay close attention and tailor services to suit individual clients.

Clients will also be able to apply for credit cards, investment and insurance products, open a new account or review the performance of their current investments.

In 2017, the Citi’s wealth business showcased its client propositions through the launch of its digital ‘Wealth On Your Terms’ campaign across 12 markets in the Asia-Pacific region.

To meet the needs of these high net worth individuals (HNWIs), Citi UAE recently relaunched its services with ‘Wealth On Your Terms’ campaign, which offers wealth management services, digital banking and solutions tailored specifically to the unique needs of affluent and emerging affluent customers.

“We continue to enhance our digital capabilities, realign our wealth value proposition and strengthen our sales model. We firmly believe that Citi UAE is well positioned to help its clients manage Wealth ‘On Your Terms’,” said Dinesh Sharma, Head of Consumer Banking for Middle East.

Citi last year launched ‘Hello’ — a new video banking capability for Wealth clients in India. “Using Citi’s mobile app, Citigold clients in India can now converse with relationship managers and investment experts via video and execute real-time investment transactions. We have plans to roll out this across Asia and EMEA by 2019,” said Anand Selva, Consumer Banking Head, Asia Pacific & EMEA.

Affluent and emerging affluent customer preferences are becoming more global, digital and oriented towards savings and investment solutions, customers increasingly want to bank digitally while still having the flexibility to receive wealth management advice from a team of trained individuals.

“The UAE is a particular area of potential growth due to rapidly expanding affluent and emerging affluent customer segments,’’ said Sharma.