Citi Asia-Pacific recognised for Excellence in Leadership during COVID-19

Peter Babej, Citi Asia Pacific CEO

In the editorial write up accompanying the recognition, Euromoney observed: “Citi is a big financial institution present in virtually every large Asian economy. You don’t get to be this size and to last this long without an innate ability to react smartly and nimbly to systemic threats. Under chief executive Peter Babej, Citi Asia-Pacific was quick to react to the coronavirus crisis.”

For retail and small business customers across the region, Citi provided a range of assistance including fee waivers on loan extensions and reduced financing rates. In Vietnam, Citi has been at the forefront offering supporting programmes for customers with incomes impacted by coronavirus, including short-term deferrals and interest and fee waivers for eligible clients.

For Asian institutional clients, the firm delivered effective and innovative capital solutions across its global platform, raising over $10 billion. These transactions included the bank’s first virtual IPO, for Nasdaq-listed Huize, in which all roadshows were held via video and audio. Citi provided equally innovative support to its trade finance and cash management clients, utilising its digital infrastructure to support remote onboarding, payments, and collections.

In Vietnam, Citi hosted some webinars for CEOs, CFOs, treasurers, and chief accountants from Citi’s institutional clients. The agenda was focused on the actions taken to overcome the coronavirus pandemic from the government’s perspective, business contingency plans, economic and market updates, and digital solutions.

Citi Vietnam has also been actively reaching out to institutional clients on a regular basis to understand the impact of the global health crisis on their business and providing market updates and insights from Citi’s global network.

To date, Citi has provided over $10 million in relief measures for communities across the Asia-Pacific, including working with the United Nations Development Programme to raise funds in several markets.

In Vietnam, the project “Emergency support for COVID-19 disease prevention and equipping community healthcare knowledge to contribute to disease prevention to maintain and develop livelihoods” run by Microfinance & Development Center (M&D) with support and finance from Citi Foundation was approved with total value $100,000.

Under the project, 40 commune health stations in eight suburban districts selected around Hanoi were provided with essential medical equipment such as medical protective clothing, face masks, and hand sanitisers while infected areas received dry and instant foods.

Efforts were also made to print and distribute COVID-19 prevention guideline documents and communication posters which people can collect from commute information centres as well as develop communal-level radio broadcasting programmes to help raise awareness about public healthcare in the community.

“This has been a tremendous team effort, and I want to once again thank all my Citi colleagues for their focus, hard work, and resilience. As the situation evolves, we continue to monitor developments across the region and remain fully committed to supporting our clients and communities,” said CEO Peter Babej.