Dive Brief:
- Citi announced a multiyear modernization partnership with Google Cloud Monday. The bank will migrate multiple workloads and applications to the hyperscaler's public cloud infrastructure, according to the announcement.
- As part of the initiative, Citi will also adopt Google Cloud’s Vertex AI platform to leverage generative AI capabilities in several key areas, including software development, document processing and customer service operations, the bank said.
- “Citi is on a mission to modernize our infrastructure and increase our safety and soundness so that our businesses can continue to serve our clients with speed and agility,” said Tim Ryan, head of technology and business enablement for Citi. The company hired Ryan, formerly a senior partner at PwC, in June to lead the modernization push.
Dive Insight:
The Google Cloud alliance is the latest chapter in Citi’s digital transformation story. The bank is several years into an enterprisewide modernization push, spurred in part by the Federal Reserve Board's 2020 enforcement action over data quality and compliance lapses.
While the Fed and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency hit Citi with additional fines in July, the bank had already begun to reap the rewards of the multibillion-dollar transformation push.
CEO Jane Fraser said Citi reduced expenses by 2% year over year but remains committed to the transformation efforts, speaking during a Q3 2024 earnings call on Oct. 15. The bank had $13.3 billion in expenses on the quarter, down from $13.5 billion a year ago.
As evidence of progress, CFO Mark Mason pointed to 450 apps retired by the bank since the start of the year. Citi has reduced tech sprawl by eliminating 1,250 apps in the last two years, Mason said.
Citi’s modernization plans include using Google Cloud to improve its digital products, streamline employee workflow and run high-performance analytics operations, the announcement said. The bank will also use cloud-based tools to handle daily computations for its markets business.
