PROVIDENCE – Citizens Financial Group Inc. is introducing a streamlined payment capability that allows its commercial customers to settle third-party and trade-related payments in renminbi, China’s currency.
Citizens Financial says the system allows its Citizens Bank and Charter One customers to lower currency risk, improve efficiency and reduce transaction costs.
Citizens is one of the first regional banks in the United States to be granted approval by the People’s Bank of China to maintain an account in renminbi.
“Citizens Bank and Charter One commercial customers are taking advantage of the rapid growth and expansion opportunities in China and already wire close to $1 billion annually to counterparties there,” said Robert Matthews, CFG vice chairman and head of commercial banking. “This is a 70 percent increase over the past five years and underscores how important China capabilities are to our commercial clients. This offering gives companies banking with Citizens Bank and Charter One advantages as they negotiate terms on purchases of Chinese goods and services.”
This new capability offers a number of benefits to Citizens Bank and Charter One customers:
“We leveraged the global currency-trading capabilities of our parent company, RBS, to develop this new service,” said Prabhat Vira, head of CFG’s Global Transaction Services Americas. “Similar to other products we have designed to help make financial transactions more efficient for Citizens Bank and Charter One customers, this new capability allows our customers to tie in to our strength as a global bank. In this case, we have seamlessly integrated with operations in RBS Asia to support their continued growth in this increasingly important part of the global economy.”
