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GETTING
it done. No three words describe more succinctly what
the US-based Citi aims to achieve in every country where
it currently operates.
The
highly diversified financial services group—formerly
known as Citigroup—under the leadership of chairman and
CEO Charles Prince has adopted a
“shared-responsibilities” theme to reinforce values and
expectations for all employees in the different areas
where Citi is present.
The
theme is certainly not lost on Sanjiv Vohra, who is
Citi’s Philippine Country Officer since November 2005.
“We
actually live by three values—responsibility to our
client, responsibility to each other, and responsibility
to our franchise,” Vohra, who is in his midterm at the
helm of Citi’s top post in the country, told
BusinessMirror in an interview.
“My
intention, from a business perspective, is to really
live and further the three responsibilities, which
really is the credo of the bank.”
A look
at Citi’s 2006 annual report shows how “shared
responsibilities” and being immersed in communities have
taken over the culture of the bank, which in the past
was more identified with catering mainly to the ultra
affluent. After the mandatory messages of Prince and
executive committee chairman Robert Rubin, the report is
followed up with the “stories” of specific individuals,
companies and communities that Citi has helped.
It spoke
for instance about how Citi launched the first biometric
credit card service in Singapore, how Citi in the US
teamed up with Cerberus Capital Management to help the
latter acquire a 51-percent stake in the financially
strapped General Motors Acceptance Corp. (GMAC), and how
it acquired Grupo Financiero Uno and Grupo Custcatlan,
giving Citi a very big foothold indeed in Central
America.
In the
same vein, Vohra animatedly spoke about the “stories”
behind the events that marked Citi’s year in the
Philippines. For instance, the acquisition of Citi
Savings, and how this would contribute Citi’s overall
growth in the country this year.
“We are
looking at the consumer business to grow much more than
we have seen in the past, one of the reasons being our
investment in Citi Savings, the savings bank we bought
in 2005,” he said.
“We are
now looking to use Citi Savings as a vehicle to grow in
markets we were not present earlier. It has given us the
ability to be in the provinces. Whereas before we only
had six commercial bank branches, Citi Savings has given
us another 37 branches, and a good part of that is
outside Metro Manila.”
Through
Citi Savings, Vohra is happy to note that the bank has
been given the opportunity to offer international
products and services to clientele—the middle-class- who
previously were not reached by these products.
He notes
the importance of Citi Savings in helping communities
where world-class banking services are not extensive if
at all present.
“Having
Citi Savings will help us provide a bigger market to the
bank which we didn’t have earlier. So we are looking at
Citi Savings to provide the growth, not only on the
credit-card side, but also in trying to target people
who today are not using credit cards to increase market
share. At the same time, we are continuously providing
more and more consumer education particularly in using
credit wisely and how to invest their money soundly,”
said Vohra.
While
Citi has been able to reach communities in the
provincial areas, it is also taking a look at
microfinance in terms of addressing the segment of what
is known as the “underbanked” and even “unbanked”.
“Today,
they are probably going to the pawn shops, to the money
lenders. We aim to bring them into the regular banking
stream. That will also help the community as well. They
will bring people away from the unorganized side to the
organized side of banking.”
Vohra
however is looking not only at the retail or consumer
side of the business for growth. He is confident that
growth in all three lines of business of Citi—Citi
Markets and Banking, Global Consumer Group and Citi
Private Bank—will again land Citi in the top 10 banks in
the Philippines this year. Citi, which has been in the
country since 1902, so far has been the largest foreign
commercial bank, winning best foreign bank awards year
after year.
In the
Philippines, in addition to the three lines of business,
Citi also pioneered the concept of shared services in
the banking industry. It operates two BPO centers which
serve other markets of Citi. These BPOs provides call
center services for the consumer business as well as a
hub for financial reporting, procurement services and
employee services for over 60 countries around the
globe.
“We are
also regionalizing some functions here as we speak,”
said Vohra, adding that more jobs will be moved into the
Philippines soon.
“Today,
there are over 4,200 employees directly employed in the
Philippines, and we expect to increase that in the
future. More jobs and more employment will be generated
in the Philippines.”
Tailor-fitting the bank’s products and services to the
community’s needs is key to the growth Vohra is looking
at this year.
“We
would like to transfer products from our global
operations, to bring the best in class products and
services to our clients in the
Philippines,
and localize them because not everything could be
transferred in its existing form,” he said. “How do you
localize it? You need creativity, you need innovation at
the local level as well.”
In order
to achieve this goal, Citi Philippines has formed what
they call an Innovation Council whose task it is to
improve and find better ways to do things at Citi’s
workplace and in the community where Citi operates.
“Innovation for us is not big-time investment,” said
Vohra. “It is small changes in the way you do things,
processes, etc., which can help in either serving the
client better, or making us more efficient in what we
do.” For Vohra, innovation is not just restricted to
business but also serving the communities that the bank
is involved in.
“And it
is not just coming from a corporate social
responsibility perspective, it is coming from something
which is a little bit more long-term, in terms of
creating a more sustainable and long-term growth within
a corporation. It is important to develop the
communities around you.”
Prominent among these community projects are the Citi
Microentrepreneur of the Year Awards, which is now on
its fifth year, cochaired by Vohra with Bangko Sentral
Governor Amando Tetangco Jr.; the Project BLUE public
schoolbuildings, and numerous youth education projects,
and its involvement in the Operation Smile Makati
Medical Mission in collaboration with the City of Makati,
enabling children with cleft deformities to change their
lives. He speaks eloquently about the bank’s
environmental initiatives, such as its $1-billion
support for the Clinton Climate Change and how Citi
Philippines has done its share in conserving energy and
protecting the environment through Project Candle.
Involvement in the community, for Vohra, does not stop
with his work at the bank. He himself is noted for
spending a significant amount of time in projects
outside the bank. He is currently the chairman of
Operation Smile Philippines; and serves on the boards of
the Philippine Business for Social Progress and the
International School Manila, among others.
Himself
breathing the ideals of the community he lives in, Vohra
knows how to get it done, and done well.
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