Citibank gets best bank award for its Belt and Road Initiative

Citibank was given the best bank award 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. 

Citibank released a press release on Thursday announcing the achievement. 

Citibank's presence in 105 of the Belt and Road markets puts it in a perfect position to connect Chinese clients.

"This award is important recognition for the whole team, and I would like to thank our clients for the trust they place in Citibank for their banking needs. Citibank 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 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 Li, Head of Banking and Origination for Belt and Road.

Citibank's presence spans over 100 Belt & Road markets where the bank offers leading Treasury and Trade, Securities Services, Custody, Markets including FX, Corporate and Investment Banking, Commercial Banking, Lending, Capital Markets and M&A solutions.

Recent client highlights for Chinese clients include, helping a leading power construction company obtain special approval on US dollar account opening in Bangladesh; supporting a major energy company on their cash pool centralisation across BRI countries; providing a holistic FX hedging solution to a power company for a series of capital injections in Latin America and offering a Sinosure-covered project finance proposal to help a top Chinese transportation company's bid for an infrastructure project in North Africa.

 "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.

Clients operating along the Belt and Road are supported by Citibank's local infrastructure and specific Asia desks. Citibank opened additional Asia desks during 2017 and 2018, and now has over 30 Asia desks in operation globally - 11 China Desks, 9 Korea Desks and 2 India Desks – a network to bank Asia's champions across the world and through the Belt and Road.

Citibank serves clients in 160 markets; with the largest physical proprietary payment network in 98 markets; clearings and custody capabilities in 63 markets, with direct clearing access to 232 clearing systems worldwide. Citibank operates trading floors in 77 markets and facilitate around $3-4 trillion of transaction flows on a daily basis. This global footprint and product excellence positions Citibank well to serve both traditional global businesses as well as next-generation clients along the Belt and Road.