CitiConnect_API_Case_Study_Book

3 Shining a Spotlight on API Opportunities In today’s competitive environment, businesses are focused on growth, better management of payments and working capital, and providing an experience of instantaneity and seamlessness to their customers. To service these priorities, banks and corporations are jointly focused on removing the friction associated with cash management from banking processes in a safe and secure manner. This includes accessing balances, reconciling sales proceeds against credit limits, sending instructions to be executed and receiving confirmation of finality. Because APIs can be embedded in an organization’s operating software of choice, it reduces the dependency on banking portals, enabling information to be received and actions to be executed directly and more efficiently from these platforms. This frees up treasury, sales, fulfilment and service staff to focus on what they should do best — growing sales, managing their operational processes and servicing their customers. There are myriad ways in which APIs can potentially create significant value for organizations. On one hand, APIs transcend a wide range of account functions, from extracting end-of-day or intra-day statements to checking balances real-time, to obtaining accurate transaction status quickly. On the other hand, they can act as an avenue to directly connect with a bank to facilitate e-commerce transactions, integrating the settlement process so that the end customers can pay through the channels that you define. Additionally, they can be used as a new medium for boosting the efficiency of a treasury function. This diversity of service is a core strength of APIs as it promotes convenience and choice, and the ability to facilitate that convenience and choice through your own business model. Introduction | API Playbook Citi’s Value Proposition As an international bank, we think and act globally. When we first launched APIs for institutional banking services, we immediately enabled them to facilitate the most frequently used functionalities and to support almost all payment types in all countries in which Citi operates. More recently, we launched an API onboarding portal to set up a consistent implementation process for customers in all markets, which speeds up the API testing and implementation process. Citi has extensive experience in advising corporations, e-commerce companies and non-bank financial institutions on what APIs are most suited to their operating models and business objectives. Many are actively using APIs to integrate our services in a wide variety of scenarios. Citi is also the first global bank to launch APIs that are embedded in Treasury Management System (TMS) providers. This includes FIS, which has connected its Trax corporate payment factory to enable seamless integration with Citi’s core treasury management functionalities, covering payment initiation, transaction status inquiry and balance inquiry. Remaining Vigilant Against Cyber Threats Finally, as an international bank built on trust, cybersecurity remains a cornerstone of anything we do with digital experiences and connectivity. Thus, when considering APIs, you should always seek to partner with an established financial institution with experience in managing digital security through a multi-layered approach that comprises holistic systemic, process and people controls. Citi’s APIs can be used in highly diverse use cases — from enhancing processing efficiency in treasury and finance management; to the integration of sales and customer acquisition incentives; to providing a truly seamless experience in customer service. They are real opportunities available today to help you achieve your organization’s potential for an integrated operating model, greater operational efficiency and superior customer experience. We look forward to your feedback and collaboration on this very exciting phase of open banking transformation!