Citi invites fintech startups to disrupt traditional banking

Financial services multinational giant Citi believes fintech startups today are missing out on major opportunities to disrupt institutional banking and is inviting entrepreneurs to do so.

"Opportunity is enormous. And the reason I'm saying that is everyone that you know dynamically wants to evolve to a better place. Therefore if fintech can come and pick up a part of a value chain which we believe they can execute better than us, at better economics and scalability, the banks have inherent incentive to pass that activity on to fintech and move on to the value added space," TechCrunch quoted Global Head of Treasury and Trade Solutions for Citi, Naveed Sultan, as saying during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

Sultan also said that Citi is already "very engaged" with the fintech space and is scanning "thousands" of startups every year.

The company has also taken an equity position in "about 30" startups so far.

"Pretty much every one of [the fintech startups it's invested in] have an operating relationship with the businesses. So, we are using their technology and integrating into our solutions. And, helping them commercialize, appreciate our equity, as well as delivering a better solution to the client," Sultan said.

Citi has established four "innovation centers" in Singapore, Dublin, Tel-Aviv and London to act as its feelers on the fintech scene.

The investments are focused in four key areas, namely, client experience, scalability, operating model agility, and innovation.