Reorganization Drives Synergy: Q&A with Raymond Gatcliffe of Citi Commercial Bank

The head of Citi’s commercial bank in North America is discussing with Global Finance a reorganization of the company’s banking lines.

In mid-September, Citi CEO Jane Fraser announced a comprehensive reorganization of the banking giant. Part of the simplified operating model included the consolidation of commercial banking, corporate banking and investment banking into one banking line. Global finance met with Citi’s Raymond Gatcliffe, head of commercial banking in North America, to discuss the changes and their results.

Global finance: Have there been any immediate synergies since CEO Jane Fraser’s September announcement of the reorganization, or are things still in the works?

Gatcliffe: Placing investment banking, commercial banking and corporate banking services on an equal footing within the banking industry will enable greater collaboration. We’ve seen that since these announcements, and we’ve seen a lot of internal initiatives to see how we can increase collaboration synergies and initiatives where we – through investment banking – can sharpen the way we think about customer service and how we bring the best of Citi to our customers.

Citi has a leading global investment bank, and it’s really about how we can more effectively bring the best of that leading global investment bank to our commercial banking clients. One of the ways we’ve done this is that the commercial bank has taken an industry coverage approach, which is similar to how an investment bank and a corporate bank cover clients. So, with three banking organizations covering customers through an industry or sector lens, we see greater collaboration, sharing of content and advice, and ultimately, winning.

Gatcliffe: The initiative to move to industry coverage was initiated in 2022, but I think some of the initiatives that came out after September, particularly with the investment bank, sharpened the focus and aligned resources between the commercial bank and the investment bank.

girlfriend: Was this change in coverage for commercial banking services after September or before September?

For example, we house commercial, corporate and investment bankers on the same floor at our headquarters at 388 Greenwich Street in New York City. It speaks to this level of partnership, collaboration, synchronicity and focus. We see this as one of the biggest opportunities for the development of a commercial bank together with our banking colleagues.

girlfriend: With new synergies, where does commercial banking end and corporate banking begin?

Gatcliffe: We differentiate commercial and corporate banking services by classifying customers with revenues or sales of less than $3 billion as primarily served by a commercial bank and customers with revenues or sales of less than $3 billion as primarily served by a corporate bank. We look very carefully at how we cover them. However, many clients have sales in excess of $3 billion per year. But if you want overall differentiation, that’s about $3 billion in sales or revenue.

girlfriend: And with $3 billion in sales, that goes beyond SME status, doesn’t it?

Gatcliffe: Yes. But commercial banking starts from $10 million in sales or revenue, up to $3 billion, and sometimes more. Overall, we are much more focused on where Citi Commercial Bank can add the most value through our global network spanning more than 95 countries, our deep expertise and the breadth of products and solutions for our business. We strive to offer the middle market the same level of service and the same products that large companies receive through their banks.

Mid-sized companies with cross-border needs can get the most out of banking with us. However, we reach clients across the entire sales or revenue spectrum with varying strategic objectives. Clients with $10 million in sales, which we call growth companies, innovators or startup disruptors, are also served by Citi. Often these companies are born with the potential to scale globally, so they benefit from our international presence and product range. Thus, we also cover the startup community in the commercial bank.

girlfriend: Have any additional features been implemented on the CitiDirect Commercial Banking platform?

Gatcliffe: We implemented various functionalities, so basic visibility, payments, information, records and statements were the first functions.

We’re now moving into foreign exchange, moving into loans and accessing loans, and introducing various new features.

We are constantly adding new features and also giving customers the opportunity to do some of the tasks themselves that they would like to have done in our service centers; they can get that information, they can get access, they can get the answer to that question with the information that they’ll have in CitiDirect Commercial Banking. The platform will continue to evolve as it was created with input from users or customers, and we continue to receive feedback on usability and where improvements are needed.