Citi Taiwan Ltd (花旗台灣) was last month named this year’s Best International Bank and the Best International Investment Bank in Taiwan by the FinanceAsia magazine.
This is the 25th consecutive year that Citi Taiwan has won the Best International Bank award and the fourth time that it has won the Best International Investment Bank recognition.
After the international finance magazine announced the awards, Citi Taiwan chairman Paulus Mok (莫兆鴻) expressed his appreciation for the recognition.
Photo courtesy of Citi Taiwan Ltd
“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the global economy has been severely impacted, and the overall business environment is facing severe challenges. It is not easy for Citi to continue winning awards from an independent institution for a quarter of a century. The awards belong to all Citi Taiwan staff,” Mok said.
Despite a decline in interest rates for US dollar deposits and the effects of the pandemic last year, Citi Taiwan still showed outstanding business performance in its institutional clients group and global consumer banking division.
In addition, its corporate and investment banking arm participated in and completed several major mergers and acquisitions, as well as transactions in capital markets last year.
With the increase in the momentum of Taiwan’s capital markets and transaction volume last year, which attracted considerable foreign investment, Citi Taiwan has come to dominate the custody services market and become the largest custodian bank in Taiwan.
In terms of global consumer banking, Citi Taiwan also introduced digital innovation plans and services to enhance its digital competitiveness, while its wealth management business demonstrated growth momentum.
Citi continues to promote the concept of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) in Taiwan, and supports the government’s “five plus two” innovative industries plan to direct funds into green energy technology, the circular economy and other industries.
According to information from the Financial Supervisory Commission, Citi Taiwan’s loan amount reached about NT$58.8 billion (US$2.13 billion) at the end of last year, ranking first among foreign banks.
In addition, Citi has been paying attention to climate change and held a series of “Citi Empowers Taiwan Youth to Tackle Climate Change” activities with nonprofit organizations from the end of last year to early this year. It invited Citigroup Inc chief sustainability officer Val Smith, and other distinguished speakers in Taiwan and from abroad to share ESG and climate trends, and encourage young people to explore climate change issues in depth.
In the face of the pandemic, to provide employees with a safe and healthy working environment, Citi Taiwan has since last year been implementing remote office and home office programs.
This year, the bank has offered paid leave for employees who get vaccinated — two days per dose — and free consultation for employees. It has also helped employees upgrade their Internet connection at home or subsidized their taxi fares to help them feel at ease while fighting the pandemic together.
On this year’s Citi Global Community Day, Citi called on its employees to support charity meals, and help disabled or disadvantaged people weather these difficult times, demonstrating corporate social responsibility.
With a solid operating performance and active participation in corporate social responsibility (CSR), Citi Taiwan has been recognized by various awards at home and abroad.
Aside from FinanceAsia’s awards, Citi Taiwan has won the Best Bank award from The Asset Triple A for 18 consecutive years. From Reader’s Digest, the bank has won the Gold Award in the Trusted Brand: Credit Card Issuing Bank category for 14 years in a row, and the Gold Award in the Trusted Brand: Finance Managing Bank category for the sixth straight year.
In the CSR field, Citi Taiwan was presented with the Best ESG Award from the Taiwan Banking and Finance Best Practice Awards and won the Best CSR Award from Excellence Magazine last year.
Responding to Citigroup’s refresh strategy, Citi Taiwan chairman Paulus Mok said, “Citi has delivered remarkable and successful performances in Taiwan for nearly six decades. We will remain strongly committed to the Taiwan market and strive to be the best banking partner for our local and multinational corporations, financial institutions and public sector entities. As we transition our franchise towards future growth opportunities, we will continue to leverage Citi’s unique global network and innovation capability to offer a broad spectrum of wholesale banking products and services to help our clients achieve sustainable growth and progress.”
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