By
Bhushan Akolkar
April 26th, 2024
Citibank is looking to expand its digital footprint in the region and said that it will employ 1000 coders over the next decade.
On Monday, September 27, Citi bank launched its global technology hub at its Bahrain offices. This will be the company’s first-of-its-tech-hub in the region that will employ 1,000 coders over the next decade.
Citi in Bahrain
As per the plan, Citi plans to hire fresh 100 employees every year for the next ten years. The new hires will initially work on the bank’s two major platforms – Citi Velocity and Citi FX Policy. Ala Saeed, Citi FX’s global head of electronic platforms and distribution said:
“Choosing our two major systems to grow from here in Bahrain is a great endorsement of the talent and potential of the people that we have found here”.
As reported by Reuters, this hub will be functional from Citi’s Bahrain campus. This tech hub has been set in partnership with a government-funded Labor fund. Besides, Bahrain’s Economic Development Board (EDB) is also making an investment into it.
Citi bank has been operating in Bahrain for the last 50 years. The banking giant has sought to revive its reputation as a regional banking and business hub. It also aims to project itself as the FinTech hub for North Africa and the Middle East.
Tamkeen’s chief executive officer Hussein Mohamed Rajab said that they will subsidize a portion of the salary for the new hires. Besides, they also plan to cover training costs locally and abroad.
Citi Makes Bet on FinTech, Blockchain and Crypto
Banking giant Citigroup has been actively participating in the rapid developments taking place in the digital payments industry. Earlier this year, Citi partnered with IDB Bank to test cross-border payments over the EOSIO blockchain infrastructure.
Besides, Citigroup has been working on offering crypto services to its wealthy clients. Back in June 2021, Citi formed the ‘Digital Assets Group’ to provide crypto services to wealthy clients. This division will dedicatedly operate in the crypto and the blockchain space and will work along with the bank’s wealth management division.
“Given the exciting new developments we are seeing around cryptocurrencies, tokenization, and other advances powered by blockchain technology, we are pleased to announce the formation of the Digital Assets Group,” it noted.
On the other hand, Citi has also been recently mulling to offer Bitcoin futures trading services to its clients.