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HR INSIDER HR INSIDER
Citi’s two slogans
Chua says Citi has two slogans that
guide all of its HR strategies.
“One is ‘Career of a lifetime’ and
the other is ‘Building bankers of the
future’,” she says.
“When we talk about building
bankers of the future, we do not only
look at Citi within the organisation.
We look at how we partner with
universities to develop students so
that it feeds the industry.”
Hence, she explains there are
specific programmes that Citi has
in place, such as the Citi Student
Mentoring programme and the Citi
Banking 101 Foundational programme,
to develop transferrable banking skills.
These two programmes were launched
by Citi in 2013 to address the needs of
the under-served first and second year
students from local universities.
In addition, Citi’s Legal Internship
programme was also launched recently
(see: boxout).
“Besides that, we also partner with
universities like the NUS Business
School to develop a transaction
banking course,” Chua explains. So,
where we see a gap, we will intervene
and we will work with campuses to
help the industry at large.”
As for the notion of ‘a career of
a lifetime’, Chua says Citi wants to
ensure that all of its employees grow
personally and professionally within
the organisation.
“So, we do have these talent
development programmes such as
the Leadership Enhancement and
Accelerated Development (LEAD)
programme and the INSPIRE programme
for emerging successors,” she explains.
“On top of that, we provide staff
with lifelong learning and career
development opportunities.”
AT A GLANCE
Total number of employees at Citi
(Singapore): close to 10,000
Size of the HR Team (Singapore):
about 50
Key HR Focus Areas:
- Employee engagement and employer branding
- Talent development and pipeline building
- Promoting a culture of diversity
Grappling with key HR issues
Despite Citi jostling with other big
players in the banking industry, Chua
zooms in on several critical issues
afflicting all organisations.
“If we look at the banking sector
and in fact, across all of the various
industries, succession planning is one
of the key priorities for any organisation
because primarily, it addresses the future
leaders’ pipeline and how we develop
our talent on the whole,” she explains.
The second point, she highlights, is
the greying population in Singapore, as
well as the need for millennials to take
up leadership roles.
Chua says an appreciation of
generational trends as well as differences
is critical.
“People leave organisations because
of leaders, and it’s important for
organisations to develop their leaders
right from the get-go, when they are
being appointed as junior managers
and so forth, to ensure there’s
sustainability,” she elaborates.
“Another principle issue is the
notion of driving diversity,” says Chua.
“Primarily, when we talk about driving
diversity, we talk about different forms
such as gender or generational.”
“This is to ensure we have a diverse
workforce that represents the diversity of
our clients.”
Last but not least, Chua reveals that
the much-publicised SkillsFuture
initiative in recent months is something
that resonates firmly with Citi.
“Over at our end, what we are doing is
developing local talent in every market
that we operate in,” she says.
“While we need to import talent
to ensure that we have the necessary
knowledge in the workplace, we also need
to ensure that the local talent are being
trained and developed as well.”
Championing
employees
Sham Majid
sham@hrmasia.com.sg
Despite being a global banking conglomerate, Citi works hard to ensure
all its HR policies are deeply employee-centric, both on personal and
professional levels
Evangeline Chua, Head of HR for
Citi Singapore, is unflinching in
her organisation’s belief in employee
development, saying it is a crucial
component of any HR framework.
“We do not chart out a specific
roadmap for every single employee
because we want to give them that
flexibility. Along the way, their career
aspirations may evolve and they
may want to develop their career in
different manners,” she stresses.
“We encourage our employees to
move across disciplines.”
According to Chua, Citi staff always
reaches out to their HR department
“to be their sounding board and to
seek advice”.
“There is a lot of sharing and
counselling from that perspective.
Hence, we do not restrict our employees
to just one roadmap,” she says.
“There is a world of opportunities
in Citi.”
Indeed, from offering development
programmes to female employees,
to promoting a culture of innovation
through its two innovation labs
at the Changi business hub, to
engaging through its various diversity
initiatives, bountiful platforms are
available to all employees at Citi.
at all levels
Citi:

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HR INSIDER HR INSIDER
itself solely to local talent, during talent
reviews, managers will be challenged to
see if there’s anything the company could
do for locals and whether there are any
roles Citi can push their locals for.
“Our CCO gives a very strong mandate
in this space because we strongly
believe that we have to develop local
talent in every market that we operate
in,” says Chua.
Besides being renowned for its
innovative and entrepreneurial spirit,
Chua also says Citi creates a work
environment where diversity is embraced.
She points to generational diversity as
an example of this concept.
“The new generation workforce has
different demands, because we are talking
about four generations of workforce in
any organisation,” she explains.
“It calls for a holistic approach to
address the different generational
workforce needs.”
Citi has three key diversity councils:
Citi Singapore Women’s Council,
Generational Diversity Council and the
Pride Council.
“For example, right now, we are doing
a benefits review,” reveals Chua.
“We engage with our various diversity
champions, be it, gender, pride or
generational, to ensure their respective
needs are addressed.”
Filling the talent ranks
Perhaps one of the worst-kept secrets in
HR is the fact that competition for talent
is at its fiercest in the banking sector.
Chua readily acknowledges this fact,
but she says that for example, with
heightened regulatory controls, there is
a particular scarcity of talent in the risk
and control space.
“Everybody is hiring in numbers in
terms of these functions, ranging from
roles such as compliance and internal
auditing,” she says.
“So, we are all vying for the same talent
and when we talk about the local talent in
the market, I don’t think it’s sufficient
to feed the increase in demand.”
In fact, Chua says Citi has actually
engaged with universities to suggest they
develop compliance-specific curriculum.
In order to entice the best graduate
talents, the company developed six
Citi Management Associate (MA)
Programmes that cater to different
needs. (see: boxout)
Internally, Chua says Citi strongly
encourages cross-mobility across
functions.
She adds that Citi prefers its
employees to be versatile. The
organisation promotes internal mobility
across functions and across the business.
“Even when we do a talent review, we
not only look at it in silos. We always
question if there is anybody in the other
business that could fill this role,” she says.
“So, we make sure that we encourage
cross-fertilisation.”
Training nuts and bolts
Chua says Citi has robust leadership
training, ranging from individual
leadership courses all the way to the
highest levels of bank management.
Interestingly, the organisation also
oversees specific training for women
in banking.
“We call it the Citi Women’s Leadership
Development Programme (CWLDP) and
primarily, it’s good for women to network
within the organisation,” says Chua.
“We also train women to have a voice
of their own, hence, empowering them
to put their hand up when a role is made
available.”
Two other programmes for female
employees include the Women Leading
Citi programme and The Women in Risk
programme.
Chua also explains the organisation
makes risk training an instrumental part
of its training initiatives.
“Risk training is very key to banks,”
she says. “So, we have a full suite of risk
training for our employees as well.”
Citi’s operations also include two
innovation labs in its Changi headquarters.
“One is for consumer banking,
while the other one is for transaction
banking,” says Chua.
“They are research and development
facilities. We have to constantly
innovate; otherwise we will definitely
fall behind the competition. So, it’s
basically Citi’s way of supporting a
culture of innovation.”
In fact, Chua states that employees
in the innovation lab rotate between
different businesses as well as across
the innovation labs.
Citi Engaged
While a majority of organisations
possess employee engagement
initiatives, Citi has structured its own
unique “Citi Engage” model, which
aims to “engage minds, empower lives
and connect Citibankers.”
Citi Engage, comprising of 12
employee engagement groups with over
80 members, was set up in Singapore
last year to run activities to promote
cultural harmony among employees.
“There are eight pillars in this whole
employee engagement,” says Chua.
The eight pillars comprise of Flexi-
Work Strategies, Diversity, Wellness,
Career Management and Development,
Appreciation and Recognition, Corporate
Social Responsibility, Family and
Celebrations and “Fun @ Work”.
“This is how we shape our employee
engagement,” adds Chua.
Offering a total rewards package
Although Chua says Citi was one of the first
Chua says during Citi’s yearly
performance review, the organisation
takes each employee through an
Individual Development Plan.
“We strongly encourage all our
employees to articulate the kind of
development plans they want to put in
place for themselves,” she explains.
“This process helps to ensure that our
employees actively manage their growth
in the organisation.”
An inclusive culture
Citi’s open and relaxed corporate
culture is perhaps best epitomised by
the organisation’s mantra that allows
everyone, including the Citi Country
Officer (CCO) of Singapore, to be
addressed by their first name.
“Anyone who has worked in Citi would
be able to attest to that,” says Chua.
“People are promoted on merits and
there is basically no hierarchy in the
organisation, so we break down all
these barriers and protocols.”
Furthermore, Chua says Citi is
committed to being a company where the
best people work and where opportunities
to develop are openly available.
“Whenever there is any job opportunity
within Singapore, we will blast it on
a weekly basis to all our employees to
make sure that this position is opened
internally,” she explains.
Nevertheless, while explaining that Citi
as a global organisation cannot restrict
EVANGELINE CHUA
Head of HR for Citi
Singapore
ALVIN NG
Head of Recruitment,
Singapore
NADIA MOHAMAD
Senior HR Generalist,
Institutional Clients
Group, Singapore
CINDY DERMAWAN
Head, Talent and Learning
Management, Diversity
and Inclusion, Singapore
ROSALIND MARK
Head of Compensation
and Benefits, Singapore
MARCELA
MIHANOVICH
Senior HR Generalist,
ConsumerBank,Singapore
WHO’S WHO IN HR
employers to implement flexible benefits,
over time, employees’ expectation of
the organisation has shifted.
“We question ourselves on whether
we have done enough in terms of the
benefits space,” explains Chua.
“We reward people, pay for
performance, so that’s pretty much
it in terms of how we compensate
our employees from a monetary
perspective.”
Acccording to her, “money is
always the hygiene factor and we
need to ensure that our employees are
equitably paid.”
“If they feel they are underpaid, they
would be extremely unhappy,” says Chua.
“That is why we offer Citi Engage – it
is almost like a total rewards package.”
Of course, rewards are not only
about money.
“I think they are looking for
recognition; for career development
within the organisation and how
the organisation nurtures them and
develops them,” she says.
Chua says there is always a
competitor who is willing to pay the
employees what they want.
“Let’s not kid ourselves about that,”
she says.
“However, in Citi, what really retains
the people is the culture. I think that’s
really important, and how we engage
them is the other important aspect.”
Citi’s budding lawyers
Citi unveiled a first-of-its-kind legal internship programme in Singapore this year.
This programme is an inaugural partnership between Citi, the National University of Singapore’s
law faculty, and law firm Rajah & Tann.
It attracted 80 applications from NUS Law, with nine students being selected this year. Students
who are accepted into the programme are attached to a senior counsel and gain exposure to the role
of the in-house legal function at Citi.
This internship requires students to make a three-month commitment, during which they are
exposed to global financial regulatory trends, product developments, and even contract negotiations.
In addition, all interns are granted a guaranteed interview opportunity with Rajah & Tann. The best
performing intern of the year, as determined by Citi and Rajah & Tann, will be awarded a training
contract with the law firm.
Up to 10 law students will be accepted into Citi’s legal internship programme each year.
Citi’s Management
Associate
Programmes
• Citi Cross-Franchise Management
Associate programme
• Citi Consumer Banking Graduate Associate
programme
• Citi Investment Banking Analyst/Associate
programme
• Citi Markets Analyst/Associate programme
• Citi Technology Academy programme
• Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions Analyst/
Associate programme