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Diving overview:
- Citi on Monday announced a multi-year modernization partnership with Google Cloud. According to the announcement, the bank will migrate multiple workloads and applications to the hyperscaler’s public cloud infrastructure.
- As part of this effort, Citi will adopt Google Cloud’s Vertex AI platform to leverage generative AI capabilities in several key areas, including software development, document processing, and customer service operations, the bank said.
- Tim Ryan, Citi’s head of technology and business enablement, said: “Citi is modernizing its infrastructure to make it safer and healthier so businesses can continue to serve their customers with speed and agility. We have a mission to make this possible.” In June, the firm hired Ryan, a former PwC senior partner, to lead its modernization drive.
Dive Insight:
The Google Cloud Alliance is the latest chapter in Citi’s digital transformation story. The bank has been engaged in an enterprise-wide modernization drive for several years, spurred in part by the Federal Reserve’s 2020 enforcement actions for data quality and compliance violations.
The Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency imposed additional fines on Citi in July, but the bank had already begun reaping the benefits of a multibillion-dollar transformation drive.
Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser said during the company’s third-quarter 2024 earnings call on Oct. 15 that Citi has reduced expenses by 2% year-over-year, but remains committed to its transformation efforts. The bank’s expenses for the quarter were $13.3 billion, down from $13.5 billion for the year. before.
As evidence of progress, CFO Mark Mason cited the 450 apps that have been retired by the bank since the beginning of the year. Mason said Citi has reduced technology sprawl by eliminating 1,250 apps over the past two years.
According to the announcement, Citi’s modernization plan includes leveraging Google Cloud to improve its digital offerings, streamline employee workflows and run high-performance analytics operations. The bank also plans to use cloud-based tools to handle day-to-day calculations for market operations.
