Citibank voted Singapore's best bank

CITIBANK is not only Asia's best bank, according to Euromoney. For the first time, it has been voted Singapore's best bank by the London-based magazine.

The US bank - Asia's best bank for the past eight years - toppled perennial winner DBS Bank for the local title to become the first foreign bank to take the Singapore crown.

Citibank said: 'Although Euromoney's Best Bank awards are invariably awarded to domestic banks within each country and territory, Citi secured the top award this year for its clear focus on expansion and constant product innovation to reach out and serve more people in Singapore.'

Awarding Citibank the Singapore title, Euromoney assessed its performance in corporate and investment banking, franchise value, enhancement of its distribution network, performance in consumer banking and product innovation and capabilities in marketing.

Also in Citibank's favour was its expanded consumer banking presence here. Its branch network had grown from five in 2005 to nine now, plus more than 500 touch points such as ATMs, by the end of 2006, largely thanks to its partnership with subway operator SMRT Corporation.

Through this partnership, a further 10 branches and at least 50 self-service instant banking centres at MRT stations will be added by the end of this year.

Citibank Singapore said in a statement: 'We are delighted to be recognised by this award. This is a strong endorsement of the quality of our people, banking operations and customer value proposition, as well as an endorsement of our efforts to continuously advance our offerings in product innovation and client service.'

Jonathan Larsen, the bank's country business manager and chief executive of Citibank Singapore, said: 'Being recognised as the best bank in Singapore is a strong affirmation of our commitment to delivering the best products and services, that are relevant to our customers' needs.

'We will continue to leverage on the expansion of our network, to invest in our business to enhance the breadth of our services and introduce more product innovations, to meet customers' rising expectations.'

The Asian awards, which will be announced at a dinner in Hong Kong today, are part of Euromoney Awards For Excellence 2007, which define banking excellence in 25 global categories and across 110 individual countries.

The global awards, which have been given out since 1992 and were announced in London last Thursday, recognise institutions and individuals that demonstrate leadership, innovation and momentum.

Bank of America was named best global bank for its dominance of the US market and for its efforts to build a large international business.

Morgan Stanley was named best global investment bank.

Euromoney editor Clive Horwood said: 'Picking the outstanding financial institutions in the world over the past 12 months has never been more difficult. It was a period when everybody said the cycle had come to an end - but it never did.

'Wealth generation in emerging market countries brought huge opportunities to local and international players alike. The firms that stood out from the crowd were those that exhibited the ability to innovate, react at speed and make best use of the inherent strengths of their organisation,' he added.