Citi Launches Real-Time Liquidity Sharing Solution

Citi has launched a new real-time liquidity sharing solution, aimed at assisting companies looking for improved efficiency in liquidity and working capital. The tool, part of Citi’s Liquidity Optimization product suite, is launching across six countries and jurisdictions in the Asia Pacific – Australia, China, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan. Other markets will follow depending on client demand.

“The need for improved efficiencies has been heightened by pandemic-driven remote working, rapid changes to business models and ensuing stress on liquidity,” the company said in a news release. “Developed in response to client demand for advanced liquidity management technology, Citi’s latest innovation enables treasurers to manage intraday liquidity in real time.”

The tool lets treasury teams mobilize liquidity and fund intraday payments across accounts and entities in real time without the need for physical funding of the accounts, saving hours of work and administrative costs.

“Beyond treasury automation, our new solution further complements how we are helping clients realize true eCommerce and real-time growth potential, by bringing embedded instant payments and liquidity solutions on a 24×7 basis,” said Sandip Patil, Asia Pacific head of liquidity management services for Treasury and Trade Solutions.

Citi said its real-time liquidity sharing is one of many recent liquidity solutions it has rolled out to help expand into new markets.

Real-time liquidity management and real-time payments is a difficult achievement, as Planixs Financial Services Director Pete McIntyre said in an interview with PYMNTS last year. “The challenge for the treasury manager is to be able to understand, right now, where all their cash sits across the various markets and time zones around the world,” he said. “Where is your cash right now, and is it in the right place?”

At larger, older and multinational companies, the combination of siloed systems and decades-old infrastructure can stymie efforts to aggregate data on cash positions in real time. But cash won’t wait for those systems to catch up. It’s always moving, and as it moves faster, there’s an even greater need to obtain that data on-demand.

For more on this topic, read our recent interview with FinLync CFO Peter Klein.