Developing Transaction Bankers of the Future

By Melvyn Low, Head of Citi's Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) business in ASEAN and Singapore

Despite transaction banking being an increasing contributor of banking revenues in Asia Pacific, universities have not kept up with the trend by preparing students for a career in this burgeoning field -- college graduates were not exploring careers in this area because universities did not offer transaction banking courses as part of their curriculum.

As Head of Citi's Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) business in ASEAN and Singapore, my goal is to further strengthen Citi's position as the bank of choice among multinationals and ASEAN corporations expanding in Southeast Asia – a region of over 600 million people, US$2.4 trillion GDP and projected growth of 7.6 percent compound annual growth from 2015-2020. However, a key challenge for Citi is to develop a pipeline of talent in this space to keep up with demand. In fact, there are often more available positions in the sector than there are qualified applicants. The challenge opened the door to an opportunity to apply my passion for the business and interest in academics.

I was privileged to have met Professor Bernard Yeung, Dean of the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School, when working with NUS on the Citi Asia Innovation Lab. In 2012, I broached the idea of launching the first transaction banking course of its kind with NUS Business School and Dean Yeung was --fortunately for the industry-- open to the idea.

We agreed that the goals of the course would be threefold – 1) to promote transaction banking as a promising career for students in the region, 2) to create a pipeline of fresh talent for Citi Singapore and 3) to position Singapore as the transaction banking hub of Asia, and possibly the world.

With Dean Yeung's sponsorship, and in partnership with the Head of Finance at the NUS Business School, I spent a year developing the content and structure for the six-week course, which launched in January 2013 with 25 students enrolled. I also recruited four Citi colleagues and subject matter experts in working capital management, liquidity management, supply chain management and securities services, to assist me in hosting the sessions. Following the conclusion of the academic segment of the course, graduating students worked in small groups with a Citi lecturer to complete an additional six-week practicum to be included an integral part of their final assessment. The practicum enabled Citi employees to assess individual students directly, while also giving the students more direct exposure to seasoned industry professionals.

The value of the course to NUS students and our TTS business in Singapore has been proven by the fact that our team has already hired two alumni for the TTS Management Associate (MA) program, while several other participants have expressed an interest in embarking on careers in transaction banking as well. One of our two recent hires and graduates of the course is Samantha Lee, a 2014 TTS Management Associate, who recalled that the transaction banking module at NUS Business School was unlike any other course offered at the university. In addition to learning more about the business, it gave her firsthand opportunity to work with people from the industry and to learn more about the Citi's work culture. She shared with me that the experience piqued her interest in transaction banking.

I attribute the continued success of the course to the ongoing partnership and engagement of my Citi colleagues and regional partners across both TTS and Securities Services product management, who helped develop the content as well as our HR partners who shared recruitment opportunities with the students. Importantly, this course would not have been possible without the support of Dean Yeung and the team at NUS Business School.

It's given me great satisfaction to see our efforts add value to the students and an increasing awareness of transaction banking as a career path among the younger generation. Our clients and society look to Citi for new ideas and fresh perspectives to solve problems and support growth. I've been humbled to be able to deliver on that promise.