Citi extends USD Clearing service to Middle East in partnership with Emirates NBD
Citi has tapped Dubai-based banking group Emirates NBD to launch its USD Clearing service in the Middle East.
Emirates NBD partners with Citi for USD Clearing service
As part of the partnership, Emirates NBD will extend the service, along with its commercial payment and treasury payment execution capabilities, to its corporate and retail clients through its branch networks in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, enabling them to make cross-border USD payments with non-stop availability.
With this, the service promises to overcome the current barriers to payment flow processes posed by the UAE’s varying cut-off times for transaction execution.
“The introduction of 24/7 USD Clearing will support the growth ambitions of our clients by giving them the ability to seamlessly transfer funds in a timely manner without having to worry about cutoffs and holidays,” comments Ahmed Al Qassim, group head of wholesale banking at Emirates NBD.
Following the initial debut, the pair have disclosed plans to extend the service to all of Emirates NBD’s branches in the Middle East and across the globe, “including partnerships with Emirates NBD’s third-party institutions”.
According to its website, the group currently maintains a total of 853 branches throughout the UAE, Egypt, India, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the UK, Austria, Germany, Russia and Bahrain.
In comments, Shahmir Khaliq, Citi’s head of services, describes the collaboration as “an important step in our journey to creating a multibank solution that is designed to deliver an end-to-end, ‘always on’ experience for participant banks and their customers”.
“Our 24/7 USD Clearing service is a clear differentiator in the market,” he continues. “It demonstrates the full value of our globally leading cross border payments and clearing capabilities, which enable our clients to make payments faster and in a more efficient and transparent manner.”
