Citibank Taiwan Retail Banking Head Yunny Lee (right) and Segment Franchise Wealth Management Head Louisa Su (left) receiving the 'Best Business Innovation' award trophies from the Vice President of Taiwan, Wu Den-yih.

Citibank Taiwan Direct Banking and Business Development & Alliance Head Michael Sung (right) receiving the 'Honorable Mention for Best E-Finance' award from the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Shih-Chao Cho.

Citibank Taiwan Country Corporate Affairs Head Michelle Liao (right) receiving the 'Honorable Mention for Best CSR' award from Sun Yueh, Senior Advisor to President Ma Ying-jeou.

The Citibank Taiwan Team with Jia-Dong Shea, Chairman of the Taiwan Academy of Banking and Finance, and Cheng Cheng-mount, President of the Taiwan Academy of Banking and Finance.

In recognition of the bank's commitment to financial products and services innovation in the Taiwan market, Citibank Taiwan won three awards in the Taiwan Banking and Finance Best Practice Awards ceremony held Friday, November 23.

The awards mark another great honor for Citibank Thailand, which recently clinched the title of Most Admired Company in Banking from CommonWealth Magazine for the 18th consecutive year. Organized by Taiwan Academy of Banking and Finance (TABF), the biennial Best Practice Awards are widely perceived as the financial industry's Academy Awards.

Citibank was presented with "Winner of Best Business Innovation," "Honorable Mention for Best CSR Award" and "Honorable Mention for Best E-Finance Award" at the Best Practice Awards ceremony, now in its sixth year.

A total of 78 projects from 42 financial institutions were vying for the top spots in this year's competition. The projects were reviewed in three stages over a period of three months before final winners were decided.

Citibank Taiwan Chairman Victor Kuan thanked TABF and the judging panel for presenting with Citi these three awards in 2012, a year that marks Citi's 200th anniversary. He attributed Citibank Taiwan's success to its 5,000 colleagues. Having served the Taiwan market for nearly half a century, Citi is committed to providing Taiwanese clients the best world-class financial products and services while assuming corporate social responsibilities.

"Citi has led the industry through the launch of self-service banking branches, 24-hour Citiphone service and wealth management propositions to provide clients access to the bank's global expertise. By integrating technology and banking, Citi has also introduced Citi Mobile and Smart Banking services, which have greatly redefined banking. Aiming to become the industry's benchmark, Citi continues to offer innovative financial services, diversified products, international operational experience and global vision into Taiwan's financial industry," he said.

Based on Citi's "innovation" DNA and its service principle of Client First, Citi's Smart Banking project was named Winner of Best Business Innovation this year. The Best Practice Awards' jury praised Citi for using its 200-year experience to integrate digital technology with financial business and introduce Taiwan's first Smart Banking services. The initiative has greatly improved service efficiency and set a model example for the industry.

Citi launched Smart Banking services in Taiwan in 2010, making it the fourth market worldwide to offer the leading technology, following Japan, Hong Kong and China. Thirty-six of Citibank Taiwan's 65 branches nationwide have upgraded to provide Smart Banking services, with a high penetration rate of 55 percent, the highest in Asia.

Citi's Smart Banking services integrate user-friendly, customized and eco-friendly financial service features. According to selected preferences, clients can search for financial information and conduct transactions on the interactive technological interface or choose one-on-one consulting services. The new service transforms banks from a traditional, passive source of financial services to an active, customer-oriented service provider, granting consumers brand new banking experiences to exceed their expectations.

Citi's innovative application of digital technology is also demonstrated in Citi Mobile, launched simultaneously in 2010 to provide consumers with access to digital banking services anytime, anywhere. Equipped with general banking functions and utility bill payment services, Citi Mobile integrates Citi credit cards' preferential offers with localized information search engines to show restaurants and stores nearby. By cooperating with ticketing centers and shopping platforms, Citi Mobile meets consumers' mobile financial needs at their fingertips.

Expanding its social welfare footprint is also part of Citi's long-term commitment to Taiwan. Starting in 2004, Citi led the industry to promote a series of systematic financial education programs for various age groups. To date, 480,000 students have benefited from these programs.

The Citi-United Way Fundraising Campaign that Citibank sponsors has also entered its 18th year. In line with the idea of "rational allocation and professional supervision," the campaign has raised nearly NT$1.1 billion from around 450,000 donors to finance local social welfare groups' 7,730 programs, which have helped more than 1 million people in disadvantaged groups. This year's Citi-United Way Fundraising Campaign officially started October 30. By promoting an innovative donation concept, it encourages the public to contribute NT$500 a month for 12 months consecutively to support social welfare groups in a more stable and long-term manner.

Over the past half-century, Citi worked hard to continue promoting its corporate spirit and to boost the financial industry as well as care for the communities that it serves. Citi's persistence and efforts have won major awards at home and abroad. It has been named "Most Admired Company in Banking" by CommonWealth Magazine for 18 consecutive years, "Best Foreign Commercial Bank" by Finance Asia for 16 consecutive years, "Best Bank"by The Asset Triple A for 10 consecutive years, and won the Best Corporate Citizen Award from CommonWealth Magazine for six consecutive years. This year, it was further rated as "The Strongest Bank in Taiwan" by Asian Banker.

As Citi will soon celebrate its 50th anniversary in Taiwan, it will continue to focus on the three major trends – globalization, urbanization and digitalization –to lead the industry forward. As a citizen of the world, Citi vows to assume its corporate social responsibilities to better serve Taiwan and contribute to society.