The story
Citibank established operations in Singapore on 1 July 1902. It was then known as the International Banking Corporation (IBC) and was the first United States bank to set up a branch in Singapore. Located at 1 Prince Street, IBC was primarily involved in the trade financing of Malayan rubber and tin exports in the early 20th century.
In the 1980s, Citibank was the first bank in Singapore to popularise the use of automated teller machines (ATMs). Citibank established its Global Consumer Banking division in 1982 to cater to the needs of individuals and small businesses. In the early 1990s, it created Singapore's first telephone banking service which was staffed 24 hours a day by CitiPhone officers.
Although a relative latecomer to the retail-banking sector, the bank has grown into a formidable market player with a major market share in key businesses including unsecured lending, deposits and investments and secured assets. Citibank was among the first four foreign banks to be awarded a Qualifying Full Bank (QFB) licence by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in 1999.
In June 2002, Citibank was the first QFB-licensed bank in Singapore to offer the Visa global debit service, and the following July it was the first in Singapore to introduce a debit card cashback scheme through the Visa platform. Called Citibank Instant Cash, the scheme allows customers who hold an International Citicard with the Visa point-of-sale debit feature to withdraw funds from their Citibank accounts when making purchase payments at retail locations.
In 2019, Citibank had 15 branches across Singapore.
In Oct 2024, the bank closed the Jurong East branch, which is its last regular branch in Singapore. This move was to shift the bank's focus towards online banking and targeting its service at high net-wealth clients via its wealth hubs.
From Wikipedia’s article on Citibusiness Singapore, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3