This announcement was picked up through Finextra and summarizes a new cross border capability for Citi clients. Without the benefit of a briefing, the description of the product, named Global Collect, indicates that the target corporate area is receivables operations, allowing for electronic invoicing and payments across the vast Citi global footprint.
Since Citi is one of the leading global corporate banking institutions, it has developed robust treasury and general financial operations solutions over time, and it appears that the company is in the process of combining internal and latest gen external tech to create better client experiences.
Our CEP 2020 Outlook (available for download here) has this very point as a key theme for success going forward.
‘In today’s environment, institutions deal with multiple service providers to collect their payments by presenting invoices, collecting funds cross-border and reconciling payments – creating an inefficient and disjointed experience. Additionally, current collection processes are primarily manual and paper-based, creating more operational inefficiency….To address this challenge, Citi combined its local payment offerings, account structures and FX capabilities with a leading digital invoicing platform from HighRadius Corporation, a Citi Ventures portfolio company. This fully integrated platform connects Citi’s clients to their international payers across key markets in all regions. By automating the entire workflow – including international billing, automated payment, currency selection and reconciliation – multinational clients achieve greater visibility and control over cross-border receipts and their global cash position.’
The High Radius connection goes back to a 2018 Citi investment in the 2007 startup, which specializes in cash cycle solutions, with particular emphasis on receivables management. Earlier this year we had also published a report on the rising importance of receivables in the calculus of cash cycle improvement initiatives, where payables-related solutions have been multiplying during the past few years. The leading institutions recognize this and continue adapting to the digitally interconnected corporate scene.
‘Citi Global Collect leverages emerging technologies, strategic Fintech partnerships, and the strength of Citi’s global network. “We are excited to extend our partnership with Citi by contributing to a new solution that combines our cutting edge technology with Citi’s industry-leading assets” said Sashi Narahari, Founder and CEO of HighRadius….Citi Global Collect is one of the new solutions being added to Citi’s continuously-expanding product suite, including Citi Payment Insights, Citi Virtual Accounts, Citi Smart Match and Citi Payment Outlier Detection, demonstrating how innovation is central to Citi’s mission.’
Overview by Steve Murphy, Director, Commercial and Enterprise Payments Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group