Citi Launches Cross-Border Accounts Receivable Platform

Citi is streamlining the cross-border collections process for its corporate treasury clients, the financial institution said Wednesday (Nov. 20).

In an announcement, Citi revealed the launch of its Citi Global Collect platform, enabling corporates to accept B2B payments across borders with integrated FX capabilities. Citi noted traditional methods of cross-border accounts receivable are inefficient, involving multiple collections service providers with silos between invoicing, collection and reconciliation.

Citi is deploying its localized payments services and FX offering to streamline the collections process. The bank also said it is working with HighRadius, which is a part of its Citi Ventures portfolio, to integrate HighRadius electronic invoicing technology.

Imbedding FX into the platform at the invoicing stage supports corporates’ need for multi-currency pricing, and allows them to price their goods in the currency most preferred by their own customers.

The platform integrates cross-border billing, payment acceptance and reconciliation into a single solution.

“In today’s digital economy, clients must scale quickly into new markets to remain competitive,” said Citi Global Head, Payments and Receivables Manish Kohli in a statement. “At Citi, we are arming our clients with the technology to enable expansion and sustain growth by automating key aspects of their core operations and improving the end-to-end users experience.”

“With the rollout of Citi Global Collect, Citi continues to prove that we are able to leverage our greatest assets to create competitive technology solutions that meet our clients’ international business needs and allow them to manage associated currency risks,” added Citi Global Head, Rates and Currencies Corporate Sales Flavio Figueiredo in another statement.

Earlier this year Citi said it would be preparing for an uptick in corporate banking operations despite concerns about an economic slowdown. The Financial Times reported in May that Citi had pointed to the U.S. government shutdown as a key factor behind a corporate banking slowdown.