Citi supports clients in Vietnam through coronavirus burdens

Citi Vietnam has held and will continue to hold helpful webinars

In consumer banking, Citi cardholders can use JioHealth, one of the most advanced medical mobile applications in Vietnam, to conduct video chats with certified doctors around the clock. Citi credit card holders can also request a doctor to visit their home via the app and receive a 30 per cent discount on the first visit and 20 per cent discount from then on.

PremierMiles cardholders can use their PremierMiles personal assistance hotline to get 24/7 health support.

Citi has placed importance on ensuring cardholders are rewarded with the most relevant rewards. Besides all of the traditional redemption methods, Citi PremierMiles, CashBack, and Rewards cardholders could use their points to pay directly for transactions at Grab, Shopee, Lazada, Tiki, Agoda, Traveloka, CGV, Starbucks, McDonalds, DeliveryNow, and JioHealth. Citi is proud to be the only bank in Vietnam that offers such feature to cardholders.

Citi also quickly partnered with the two biggest e-commerce sites, Lazada and Shopee, to bring more discounts for customer orders. The bank has also partnered with DeliveryNow to bring food and drinks directly to customer doorsteps with up to 20 per cent discount. Furthermore, the bank announced a partnership with GrabMart to deliver fresh groceries to customers.

Natasha Ansell, Vietnam Citi country officer, said, “Realising that social distancing would hinder the ability to leave home, we partnered with companies to deliver best-in-class solutions directly to customers during that period.”

Citi has been at the forefront of offering supporting programmes for customers with incomes impacted by coronavirus, including short-term deferrals and interest/fee waivers for eligible clients. Furthermore, Citi has applied reduction of service fees to support customers in recent months.

“Vietnam has been widely and duly praised for its timely and effective actions to contain the pandemic, and it has now gradually lifted most of the social distancing measures and is reopening the economy,” Ansell explained. “Citi Vietnam will continue to monitor developments closely and evaluate additional actions to support our clients and communities as needs arise.”

The bank remained active while social distancing measures were in place. Citi hosted a webinar last month for 20 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. The bank’s priority now is on how the bank can support its clients through this challenging period.

“Our award-winning electronic platform CitiDirect BE, coupled with our host-to-host capabilities via CitiConnect, help to ensure that our institutional clients can continue to perform their core banking activities in a controlled, digital way during the challenging environment of COVID-19,” added Ansell.

Also last month, Citi Commercial Bank (CCB) and Regional TTS hosted a webinar on Virtual Cards solution on attended by 15 CCB digital segment clients. Other client webinars have been scheduled to provide market updates and developments in Vietnam to clients in overseas markets, as well as staying connected with clients with capital markets enquiries via video conference calls with bankers across several regional teams.

Ansell expressed that Citi highly appreciates the efficient efforts made by the Vietnamese government in the prevention and control of the pandemic. “We continue to be confident in the prospects of the Vietnamese economy. Citi pledges to comply with related local regulations and we want our customers to know that we remain committed to providing the necessary support.”

In this vein, the support will continue to include business continuity plans, digital solutions, and extending credit facilities to support clients and suppliers in a responsible and prudent manner.