Citi using tech to streamline NZ government
(22 August 2017 – New Zealand) Citibank has revealed plans to use new technology to assist the New Zealand government streamline its payment processes.
The New Zealand Herald reported that Global Head of Citiabank’s public sector group for corporate and investment banking was in the country this week speaking with government representatives.
The bank has been working with the government since around 2013, and is the only non-Australasian bank to be part of the discussions.
According to Citi, it has assisted in streamlining the payment services at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), with Monaco highlight the bank "supports MFAT in 27 countries".
Monaco said Citi had introduced a system where all the payments made by an embassy were done centrally rather than manually and meant the embassies could focus on their core business.
Citi also provided credit cards for embassy staff to use which then allowed spending data to be analysed with a focus on using spending power and cost savings.
Monaco said that "governments were looking for ways to become more efficient. One of the ways is to embrace more technology." Adding New Zealand was at the leading edge of technology change.
Citi has partnered with technology giants including Facebook, Microsoft and IBM to source new technology to build ways of detecting fraud and bribery in government services in developing countries.
Named the CitiTech For Integrity Challenge, it received over 1000 submissions from around the world with the winners working to develop new applications that governments can use to detect and block illicit payments, stop welfare fraud and protect financial data.
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