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Citi FinTech & The Age of the Customer

October 23, 2017
Linda Duncombe, Chief Marketing Officer, Citi FinTech

Throughout my career, I've had the opportunity to witness digital transformation first-hand and have long been impressed by the awesome power customers wield. When I joined Citi FinTech about 18 months ago, I was excited to be part of a customer-centric, Silicon Valley-style team serving as a spearhead for Citi's Global Consumer Bank. Our new features and capabilities are driven by honest, everyday engagement with and feedback from our customers. Recently, I spoke at Efma's Banking Innovation Forum in Toronto and shared with the conference participants a few of the lessons we've learned.

First and most importantly, customers seem increasingly willing to bank on their phones. According to Citi's inaugural Mobile Banking study, 88 percent of consumers are mobile banking at home—on the couch, in bed and in the bathroom—while 44 percent are engaging at work. Among Millennials, who are never without their phones, 31 percent said they mobile bank when socializing.

What does this mean for Citi? It's now a widely-shared expectation for banks to not only have an app to offer services to their customers but also to provide a best-in-class experience that is seamless and meets their immediate needs. Over the last 200 years, Citi has built trusted relationships with our customers all around the world, and we want to help with our customers' everyday financial moments, not just their major milestones.

But to do this effectively, we have to get the fundamentals right and achieve our goals in a way that doesn't disrupt our customers' lives. And we've found that co-creation with our customers is the key to making that happen. We engage with our customers virtually while they are in their own environments to gather quick, authentic feedback. It's about being part of many one-on-one personal interactions to see how people will use a functionality and if it solves the problems we've worked with customers to identify.

With this approach, we've been able to achieve a great deal to date, including:

  • Engaging 21,500 customers in co-creation since the beginning of 2017
  • Adding 32 core features and more than 60 sub-features based on things our customers are asking us for
  • Receiving qualitative feedback from customers that makes them feel like they matter and encourages them to take a more active approach to their personal finance

Our progress isn't slowing down any time soon. In fact, it is accelerating. Competition is fierce, our customers are discerning, and innovation is imperative. There is no question that we're living in the age of the customer. I'm excited to deliver what's next, and I know my team is too.

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