Citibank celebrates 25 years of serving the clients and the community in Hungary

March 17, 2011

2011 marks the 25th milestone anniversary of Citibank serving the clients and the community in Hungary, the first franchise Citi established in Central and Eastern Europe in 1985.

Batara Sianturi, Citi Country Officer for Hungary said, "We are proud of the many outstanding achievements and innovations that we have accomplished during the 25 years to benefit our clients and the community in Hungary and also, of the key role that we have been playing in contributing to the economic development and modernization of Hungary."

"Our focus in the next 25 years will continue to be on enhancing our clients’ lives through innovation that harnesses the breadth and depth of our global network and world-class products. We are committed to continuing to deliver client excellence and as a team, we all strive to make every single interaction an exceptional experience for our customers", added Mr. Sianturi.

Journalists and Citibank Hungary seniors are listening to the presentation delivered by CCO Batara Sianturi at the press event celebrating the 25th anniversary of Citibank Hungary in Budapest on 17 March

Over the last 25 years Citibank Hungary’s professional team have been serving the short and long-term financial needs of their institutional clients having been involved in some of their major corporate events. Some of Citi's landmark transactions include the first Commercial Paper Program in Hungary for MATÁV in 1993, the debut financing of Westel 900 in 1997, the largest corporate Local Currency Project Financing as part of Vodafone Hungary's start-up financing in 2000, the first Islamic Finance Facility in Hungary for MOL in 2001 and the largest corporate loan syndication for MOL in 2007.

Citi was lead manager of several successfully priced sovereign bond issuances, including a €1.5 billion Eurobond for the Government of Hungary in 2008, a €1 billion Eurobond issuance in 2009 - a transaction that helped to restore the market confidence in Hungary after having been impacted by the global economic and financial crisis, and a $2 billion benchmark USD bond issuance in 2010.

Building on Citi’s almost 200 years of tradition in global innovation, Citibank was the first bank in Hungary to introduce a 24-hour telephone customer service in 1995, to offer personal installment loans without collateral requirements in 1996, to issue the first real credit card in Hungary in 1998 and to offer offshore mutual funds for private customers in 2002. Unique to the market were the Citigold Wealth Planner in 2003, the Equal Payment Plan for credit cards in 2004, the Citibank Platinum Credit Card with Citigold Club privileges program, the Malév-Citibank and the Shell-Citibank co-brand credit cards in 2006, the Citigold Select Center and Citigold Global Access in 2007, the Zero Fee Bank Accounts in 2008, the Magyar Telekom-Citibank co-brand credit card in 2009 and the international portfolio diversification solutions that it has been offering in cooperation with Citi International Personal Bank since 2010.

In serving its clients in Hungary Citibank Hungary continues to build on Citi’s unmatched global opportunities and expertise and further leverage on the fact that none of the industry players in Hungary has a worldwide presence or platform approaching the scale of Citi. This offers the clients in Hungary access to world-class products and services, and banking innovations available from around the world.

Today, Citibank Hungary operates as a unique global banking business serving clients in corporate, commercial and consumer segments with a wide variety of products and services. Citibank is a market leader in Credit Cards, Citigold, Internet Banking, Global Transaction Services, Treasury and Global Subsidiaries Group with diversified distribution channels consisting of 26 branches across major cities in Hungary, 24/7 CitiPhone banking, internet banking and direct sales/telesales channels.

Citibank is also committed to being an active and supportive member of the communities in which it does business. In line with Citi's global corporate social responsibility strategy the bank primarily focuses on financial education, building NGOs and small businesses and driving environmental awareness with their customers. More than 130,000 students in 310 elementary schools across Hungary have been served with technology-based teaching materials in the Citibank Financial Education School Program started in 2001 in partnership with Junior Achievement Hungary and 37,000 trees were planted for their customers who switched from printed to paperless e-Statements in their Plant-a-Tree Program launched in 2008.