WEDNESDAY, 16 NOVEMBER 2011 18:38 JUN VALLECERA / REPORTER
CITIBANK in Manila has put up a publicly accessible planning tool that
anyone with access to the Internet can get free of charge to help
people, even non-Citibank clients, plan their financial future.
Citibank announced the online service on Wednesday as part of its
program to attract as many of the country's estimated five million
individuals marked earlier as the emerging affluent but whose banking
needs have not been effectively serviced by any of the existing
brand-name institutions.
One need only reveal a particular goal at some point in the future,
detail a little of one's current financial circumstances and the tool
spews out the financial numbers one is required to execute to attain a
given goal, say a vacation holiday in an Indian Ocean island or a
financial nest egg from which to live a comfortable lifestyle upon
retirement.
"No matter our age or stage in career, we all have financial goals, and
at Citi, we're here to help our clients design the roadmap that will
take them from where they are now to where they want to be," said Sergio
Zanatti, Citi's consumer business manager in the Philippines.
The publicly available financial planner has captured the interest of
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas officials whose leadership has since pursued
a financial literacy campaign to raise widespread awareness of
responsible financial behavior and promote a culture of savings among
Filipinos.
Emerging affluent Filipinos were earlier estimated to number more or
less five million, representing individuals with investible assets of
$10,000 up to $100,000 they want the banks to manage on their behalf.
In the region, they are believed to number at least 500 million
individuals and a prized market for banks like Citi that have the
expertise, the tools and the network to tap them for the potential they
represent.
Citi corporate affairs director Aneth Lim said the emerging affluent
sector is just one of a recent string of innovations and discoveries the
global lender has tapped the past 109 years to promote loyalty among
clients.
Lim acknowledged the emerging affluent sector may be a new resource for
the bank but one that is definitely a finite one.
"We introduced wealth management in the Philippines in the 1990s and we
have been successful in assisting our clients in protecting and managing
their wealth. We are now expanding our reach by extending our services
to the emerging affluent, but this time with a focus on growing their
wealth," Zanatti said.
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