Citi taps Filipino talent for global transformation

To reinforce technology footprint

MANILA, Philippines — Global banking giant Citi is deepening its technology footprint in the Philippines with the launch of its proprietary artificial intelligence tools, marking a major step in the bank’s global push toward becoming an “AI-first” organization.

The move positions the country as a key hub in the multinational bank’s efforts to modernize operations, enhance efficiency and improve client experiences across its 83 global markets.

Rajen Shah, Citi’s global chief operating officer for technology and business enablement, recently visited Manila for the first time in his current role to witness the bank’s AI transformation in action.

“I had the pleasure of visiting our Citi Solutions Center and it was a privilege to experience firsthand the dynamic energy and immense talent thriving there,” Shah said. “I am proud to be part of an organization with such strong dedication, leadership and optimism.”

Citi has rolled out a suite of proprietary AI tools to nearly 180,000 employees in 83 countries, including the Philippines, where the bank operates one of its largest global delivery hubs. Since launch, employees have entered over 6.8 million prompts into Citi’s AI tools, a sign of how quickly the technology is being adopted across the organization.

“We are building and adopting an AI-first culture, where Citi AI is an essential tool in how our colleagues work day-to-day,” Shah said. “Our suite of horizontal tools empower our colleagues to serve our clients and run our businesses with safety, compliance and responsible innovation at the forefront.”

He noted that these tools are helping employees “work faster and smarter” by assisting with presentation drafting, document summarization and idea generation. Citi has also made prompt engineering training mandatory to ensure employees can use the tools effectively.

“An important part of our AI tools is the feedback loop with our colleagues,” Shah added. “We encourage all of our colleagues to use our Citi AI suite of tools and provide feedback on their experiences, so that we can continuously adapt the tools with more capabilities for their needs.”

Beyond internal productivity, Citi sees AI as a catalyst for transforming how customers interact with the bank. “AI is currently changing the nature of how we all work,” Shah said. “Citi views AI as a powerful tool to transform how we operate, improve client experiences, accelerate work, and enable faster, better decision-making.”

He cited two key innovations that illustrate this shift. In the United States, Citi’s Agent Assist pilot offers real-time transcription and automatic call summaries to streamline customer service.

Meanwhile, AskWealth, a generative AI-powered assistant deployed by Citi’s Wealth Management teams, provides instant answers across the bank’s wealth ecosystem, enabling service teams and advisors to access market insights and resolve client inquiries with greater speed and precision.

“As we continue to integrate AI into how we operate as a bank, we envision benefits to our client and customer experiences as well,” he said.

While AI adoption in the financial sector has accelerated, Citi emphasizes that governance and oversight remain central to its deployment strategy.

“We deploy AI at Citi within our risk frameworks and legal and regulatory requirements,” Shah said. “Each use case that we develop, test and deploy is evaluated for business impact, feasibility, safety and soundness and ethical considerations.”

Expanding AI capabilities in Manila

Citi recently launched three new AI tools in the Philippines. These include Citi Assist, Citi Stylus and Citi Squad to simplify workflows for employees and enhance productivity.

“Citi Stylus Workspaces is a productivity tool to help colleagues gain immediate intelligence from documents in a variety of formats,” Shah explained.

“Citi Assist is a desktop assistant that helps colleagues navigate Citi’s internal ecosystem, while Citi Squad helps automate non-coding tasks, such as code review and document generation.”

These AI tools, he added, would indirectly benefit clients by allowing employees to focus more on innovation and service quality rather than administrative work.

“Technology is also a strategic enabler of our business’ growth,” Shah said. “My team and I are very focused on using technology to modernize and simplify how we operate in order to keep making progress in these areas.”

Shah believes that AI would be the most disruptive technology shaping the future of banking over the next five years, far beyond the impact of earlier digital innovations.

He shared that Citi’s developers, once tasked with manually checking lines of code, now leverage AI tools that have already completed approximately 740,000 code reviews in the first half, saving about 100,000 hours per week. “Those saved hours are now being spent on higher-value tasks,” Shah said.

The bank also retired more than 211 applications across its global operations in the first half, creating more streamlined processes and boosting operational efficiency. “AI is already reshaping how we deliver for clients as a firm, and we only see the technology advancing at a rapid pace,” he added.

Looking ahead, Citi plans to strengthen its Manila operations by expanding both its voice and non-voice services while exploring new opportunities in technology and analytics.

With the Philippines emerging as a cornerstone of Citi’s global technology ecosystem, the bank’s local workforce stands to play a defining role in shaping how AI transforms banking in the years ahead.