Citi avoids Big Four, goes online and global
Global banking giant Citi admits that it is "dwarfed" by major banks in Australia.Julian Potter, head of Citi's consumer bank in Australia, said the bank had one million customers and 13 branches.APRA data shows it has a deposit book of around A$4 billion and a home loan book of around $9 billion, for a market share of less than three quarters of a per cent.A small footprint, though, means opportunity.Potter pointed out that Citi has seven million consumer clients using its digital banking services, globally, "and we expect this to reach 10 million by 2017."Potter said "about 98 per cent of all our customer transactions in this region are now via non-branch channels.""In Australia, Citi's customers are also continuing to grow their use of our digital channels. Our customer use of mobile banking is continuing to increase at a faster rate than any of our other channels, while almost 60 per cent of new product applications are received online."He said Citi research showed "global mobile payment volumes will total US$447 billion by 2016, up from US$69 billion in 2013.""This growth will shape the future of global consumer banking and bring more of the world's population into the banking system."Taking an optimistic view, Potter said: "banks have started, and in many cases, are making good progress in providing their customers with digital service capabilities that supplement their more traditional physical and phone based services."