Citibank sees 100pc penetration rate

KUALA LUMPUR: Citibank Bhd, which handled some US$350 billion (RM1.36 trillion) worth of online payment transactions from its Malaysian corporate clients alone last year, expects the figure to grow as the bank continues upgrading its digital capabilities.

Speaking to NST Business, Citi’s country head of treasury and trade solutions Noel Saminathan said Malaysian corporates were increasingly taking the leap to digital.

“This is a definite increase from 10 years ago, when most corporates still preferred cheque payments,” he said.

“In fact, 98 per cent of transactions from Malaysian corporates that we are working with are already online. Ten years ago, that figure was 60 per cent. It won’t be long till that figure hits 100 per cent.”

Noel said there were several factors that helped push the digital penetration rate.

“Government policies play a big part. As we know, the government is already targeting 20 per cent digital contribution to the economy by 2020, and the fact that Bank Negara Malaysia had now made cheque clearing more expensive helps,” said Noel.

“Malaysia’s status as an emerging market also helps. Emerging markets have a tendency to leapfrog over developed markets.”

Citibank is also hoping to become fully digitalised next year.

“Citi has always been ahead of the industry in terms of digital penetration,” said Noel, adding that besides Citibank, no other bank in Malaysia had achieved full digital penetration.