Citi has won a cash management services mandate from Singapore-based Raffles Education Corporation. Under the mandate, Citi’s global transaction services (GTS) business will provide the private education group with a solution to efficiently centralise payments processes in 12 countries. According to Citi, the deal is unique in Asia’s education industry.
“Citi’s cash management solution is extremely important to support the rapid expansion of our business in Asia,” said Kenneth Ho, chief financial officer at Raffles Education. The tertiary education provider operates 38 colleges in 14 countries, including: Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.
Ho believes Citi’s solution will be an invaluable resource to his company’s treasury management function. “Citi’s solution will enhance our efficiency and enable us to focus our efforts on more important areas, including furthering our business development across the region,” Ho added.
Before implementing Citi’s solution, Raffles Education had partnered with many multinational and local banks and therefore processes had to be reconciled over multiple platforms. According to Citi, its customised solution includes a comprehensive and innovative receivables solution to streamline the reconciliation process for fees being collected from local and international students. “Effective receivables management is a key focus area for most corporations as they look to this region for their business growth,” said Sanjeev Chatrath, Asia-Pacific regional head of client sales management, treasury and trade solutions of Citi’s GTS business.
Citi’s online banking platform, CitiDirect, is included in the solution and will enable Raffles Education to standardise its payment processes allowing the company’s head office complete visibility of accounts in the 14 countries.
In other news, Citibank Vietnam has become a member of the Vietnam Bank Card automated teller machine (ATM) network through a partnership with Vi Na Brilliant Card company (VNBC). Customers of Citibank Vietnam will now be offered banking services at all 1,800 of VNBC member banks’ ATMs in the country with no transaction fee. The bank will subsidise the transaction costs for its retail deposit customers for an initial period in order to promote the use of ATMs and electronic payments.
VNBC member banks include ANZ Bank, Commonwealth Bank, Dai A Bank, Dong A Bank, GP Bank, Habu Bank, Mekong Housing Bank and Saigon Bank.
