Citibank^®, which was formally known as the First National City Bank of New York, first opened its doors for business in Jamaica in September 1960. It began operations as a commercial bank with eight branches across the island. The bank subsequently consolidated its activities to a single branch in 1980 to focus on a special banking concept called Corporate Banking. This new focus was fully established in 1981 and Citibank^® became the first corporate bank in Jamaica focussing on a select, target market of corporate clients.

Over time, Citibank^® has moved towards more sophisticated areas of focus. These include treasury, trade finance, corporate finance, risk management, financial institutions and transaction services. This has earned the bank the reputation of being a creative, efficient and innovative financial institution that understands the importance of proper credit procedures, effective systems and procedures and professional, qualified and highly trained staff.

In 1996, Citibank^® implemented three new initiatives as part of the focus to fully entrench the bank in Jamaica. The bank introduced three credit cards, increased the focus on Asset Based Finance and re-introduced Commercial Banking. The credit card business was subsequently closed in 1998 as part of a global decision arising from the merger with Travellers Group.

As part of a strategy to grow the franchise by expanding physical locations in key areas, the Montego Bay Branch with a staff of seven, was opened in December 1998 to provide greater market penetration to sell the existing line of products. However in 2003, Citibank^® decided to concentrate on being a full service corporate bank, serving clients in a defined corporate segment. Consequently, the Montego Bay branch was closed in July 2003.

Today, from its offices in New Kingston, Citibank^® offers individualized, professional services to 75 of Jamaica’s leading corporates. The breadth of the Bank’s global reach, the depth of its expertise, a commitment to service, excellence and state of the art technology which links the bank to over 2,000 officers in 100 countries, all give Citibank^® exceptional abilities to meet the full needs of customers competently and efficiently.

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