Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Account Opening

Citi's highly experienced account opening teams will facilitate and provide guidance to meet the documentation requirements of local jurisdictions. For new Legal Entities to the branch, there is also a Know Your Customer/Anti- Money Laundering process that will be managed by your Citi relationship representative to meet regulatory compliance conditions.

TTS Onboarding Operations consolidates Account Opening, Account Maintenance and Product Implementation into a single organization that integrate a consistent onboarding experience across our network, for global TTS client onboarding activity. Our mission is to deliver a timely, accurate, frictionless onboarding experience, to enable achievement of client goals, in a fully controlled manner.

To better serve our clients, Regional Onboarding hubs coordinate the account requests with Citi branches across the globe and are strategically located to provide support in local time zones.

Citi has four regional hubs:

  • APAC (Mumbai, Penang) servicing Asia and the Pacific Rim countries. Operating Hours: From 09:00 to 18:00 local time
  • EMEA (Warsaw) servicing Europe, Middle East and Africa. Operating Hours: From 10:00 to 18:00 local time
  • LATAM (Bogota) servicing Latin America. Operating Hours: From 08:30 to 18:00 local time
  • NAM (Delaware) servicing Canada and United States. Operating Hours: From 08:00 to 17:30 local time

A Citi Documentation Specialist will be responsible for overseeing the entire documentation process in relation to your account opening requirements and will:

  • Ensure that you receive all the necessary documents in relation to the country or countries where you are opening accounts
  • Assist you in completing the account opening documents
  • Verify that documents are correctly completed and executed once received
  • Provide ongoing support for any general documentation queries

Your Citi account will be opened in four easy steps:

  1. Contact your Citi Representative to request a new account. You will have to provide the purpose of the account and specify location, currency, legal vehicle and services you need.
  2. Citi will initiate your request to open the account and you will be assigned a Document Specialist who will assess your request, review existing documents and send the account opening requirements to you.
  3. The Customer will review and complete all documentation requirements outlined by your Citi Document Specialist and return the completed documentation.
  4. Citi will review and confirm that all documentation is complete, and will initiate the account activation. Your Citi Documentation Specialist will confirm once the account is ready for use.

Note: The process steps shown above are illustrative of a typical account opening but may vary depending on individual circumstances.

The overall timelines of the account opening process depend on several factors, including local laws and requirements as well as mutual cooperation by all parties. Citi typically opens accounts within 24 to 48 hours upon completion of the Know Your Customer process and delivery of the correctly completed account opening documentation package. Some countries require a higher level of effort based on local regulatory requirements; to understand the expected level of effort, please see Country Grouping Guide.

Documentation

Citi requires a set of standard terms and conditions and other standard forms to open an account, including: Master Account and Service Terms, Confidentiality and Data Privacy Conditions, Signature Card, Global Manual Transaction Authorization, Country Addendum and Local Declarations. Your Citi Documentation Specialist will ensure that you receive all the relevant documents required to open an account.

The purpose of Constitutive and Authority Documents is to provide evidence of:

  • The fact that the Customer has been duly incorporated/established
  • The form of the Customer organizations (e.g., company, partnership, regulated entity, public sector entity)
  • The laws under which the Customer is organized
  • The powers it has under its internal regulations to enter into banking and ancillary arrangements
  • The authority of the Customer’s nominated representative to act on behalf of the Customer e.g., to open/close accounts, delegate power and manage cash management services

Constitutive and Authority Documents will also be used for Know Your Customer purposes and to ensure compliance with applicable Anti-Money Laundering requirements.

The MAST is an updated version of the General Account Conditions (GAC), the previous version of TTS bank account terms and conditions which has been phased out. The MAST is the overarching "master" agreement for TTS accounts and services and forms the cornerstone of the cash management relationship. The MAST reflects our experience of working with Customers in connection with the GAC over many years, and has been drafted to take account of legal and regulatory developments and technology changes across the countries that we serve.

The CDPC is a document that accommodates the growing body of law related to data privacy, and facilitates compliance by both Customers and Citi with data protection obligations. The CDPC sets out Citi’s and the Customer’s respective rights and obligations in relation to confidential information and personal information exchanged between Citi and Customer.

The Signature Card sets out the names and specimen signatures of the persons authorized to operate and give instructions in relation to account(s) on behalf of the Customer.

The GMTA sets out the names and specimen signatures of the persons (referred to on the GMTA as Initiators) who are authorized to give instructions to transact on accounts on behalf of the Customer by manual means. The GMTA is intended to be used in contingency situations where the electronic banking platform is temporarily unavailable for any reason.

  • Country Addendum - sets forth local commercial and regulatory terms that supplement and/or amend the MAST, CDPC, and Security Procedures.
  • Local Declarations - Local Declarations are additional forms to be signed by the Customer to ensure compliance with specific local laws, regulations, anti-money laundering or other requirements applicable in the country where the account is to be opened.
  • Tax - Citi is obliged to provide reporting to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in relation to U.S. accounts and accounts opened elsewhere by Customers with a U.S. address connection

Click on this link for a list of all the required documents for Account Opening. This list is for your information only. Upon your confirmation, a final list will be generated and provided to you for submission. The final list excludes any valid document Citi has on file. Please contact your Client Executive/ Relationship Manager / Citi Representative before completing a form or submitting any document.

Please contact your Citi representative who will be able to guide you better on your special situation.

Account Maintenance

As a Citi client, you will work with a Documentation Specialist as you need to manage your accounts. The Documentation Specialist’s roles and responsibilities include:

  • Managing documentation for maintenance requests
  • Structuring calls to assist clients in understanding documentation requirements
  • Assisting client with completing documentation
  • Providing regular updates to clients on the status of maintenance requests
  • Resolving any issues/questions and coordinate any required approvals
  • Completion of maintenance requests upon receipt of any required documentation

As a Citi client, you may have various requests during the account maintenance process. Some examples include:

  • Legal name/Address change
  • Account name/address change
  • Billing name/address change
  • Debit account change
  • Signature updates i.e. add/delete signers to Signature card/Global Manual Transaction Authorization (GMTA), board resolution, etc.
  • Account Closures
  • Incremental account entitlement to CitiDirect
  • TBA, CPA and CitiDirect Access Removal
  • E-Invoice Set-up

Please contact your Citi Representative for forms and procedures required to close your Citi account.

Timelines vary depending on country/documentation requirements. The process is simplest if all documentation is completed correctly and is submitted to Citi in a timely manner.

Documentation requirements change depending on what country the account is held and the type of update that needs to be performed. Detailed requirements will be provided by the Citi accounts services specialist upon requesting maintenance.

A Citi ASU Specialist will return inquiries as quickly as they can, usually within 24 hours.

Know Your Customer (KYC)

Citi must comply with legal and regulatory requirements and applicable guidelines for Customer due diligence (i.e., Know Your Customer (KYC)). This means that Citi may need to request documents or information that will provide an understanding of the Customer’s business, reputation and organization, such as copies of Constitutive and Authority Documents, evidence of ownership of the Customer entity, confirmation as to whether accounts are to be legally and beneficially owned by the Customer, and details of senior officers and authorized representatives. The specific requirements and documentation requests will vary depending on the location of accounts, the place of incorporation/establishment of the Customer and the form of Customer entity involved. Due to the strict laws and regulations applicable to AML and KYC, account openings cannot be completed until all AML/KYC requirements have been fully satisfied.

Electronic Banking/CitiDirectSM

CitiDirect is the evolution of CitiDirect® Online Banking (CitiDirect). In its fully deployed state, CitiDirect will provide clients with a newly designed single-entry portal offering a contemporary user interface that integrates the existing CitiDirect transactional and self-service capabilities with one-click access navigation, and improved overall user experience.

The enhanced user experience of CitiDirect is the result of the joint collaboration of multiple application design firms, online banking Subject Matter Experts, User Interface subject matter experts as well as several current CitiDirect Users.

You will be able to log into CitiDirect using your existing Safeword Card. If you are a Challenge Response user, once you have received confirmation that you have been granted access to CitiDirect, you can log in using the serial number on the back of your card and your Safeword Card PIN to log in.

Contact your regular Citi representative for support.

Please work with your security manager to ensure that your e-mail address in your User Profile screen is accurate. We will need to send you important information about CitiDirect via e-mail.

Product Implementation

Citi's highly experienced product implementation team will manage end to end implementation process through Implementation Manager for the different cash products provided to TTS customers.

As a Citi client, you will work with an Implementation Manager who will be in charge of the following responsibilities:

  • Act as the single point of contact to the customer during the different phases of the project.
  • Make follow up to the different activities, own and external to guarantee they are executed timely and correctly.
  • Communicate constantly and accurately to the customer the project status and the finalization of each milestone within the project
  • Review initial set up is correctly before deliver products to customers
  • Identify and escalate any issue that may come up during the process
  • Follow defined process for each product group.

As a Citi client, you may have access to various products according to your needs. Some examples include:

  • Platforms and Data Services
  • Liquidity and Management Services
  • Payments and Receivables
  • Trade

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