US banking giant Citi makes an equity investment in Icon Solutions

Icon Solutions, a UK-based payments technology outfit, recently managed to secure an equity investment from Citi Bank, the US-headquartered banking giant.

While the exact terms of the investments were not released to the public, it is known that the investment was made through the Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS). In addition, the bank also intends to expand the use of the Icon Payments Framework. Its intention is to enhance micro-services orchestration architecture, according to reports.

The banks seek to become better at responding to changes in the financial industry

The partnership between the two came as a result of a multi-year payment platform modernization effort from Citi. The banking giant seeks to make flexibility a priority. Another major goal is to accelerate its ability to respond to the growing speed of changes in the payment infrastructure and regulatory environment.

With constant new breakthroughs in financial technologies, even traditional banks have found themselves in a situation where they have to start adopting these new technologies. Otherwise, challenger banks and non-bank financial institution will claim their share of the market, leaving them behind.

Meanwhile, the same technological advances have led regulators to pay attention as well and create new laws and rules for the financial industry. As a result, the banks have to adapt to these changes, as well. In addition to all that, client demands have also evolved, pushing the banks to offer more competitive features and technologies or, once again, end up being left behind.

Citi Bank continues to evolve and adopt new technologies

Citi TTS’ head of payments, Debopama Sen, commented on the bank’s decision to make an investment into Icon Solutions. Sen stated that Citi is on a journey to unlock the full potential of its network and respond to the need for a streamlined and efficient payment processing system.

“Through this relationship, we are removing platform complexity across our multiple products by following a process of ‘de-platforming’ common business services and creating reusable and extensible services that can be orchestrated using the IPF framework,” Sen noted.

The new approach is meant to empower the bank’s engineering teams, and allow them to respond faster and more efficiently to industry development. One example is the ISO 20022. Through its evolution, the bank expects to become better equipped to deliver high-quality innovation and functionality to the clients.

The bank has been making moves to better its service throughout the year. For example, in September, it launched the Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions’ new digital asset solution. The solution was designed to improve cash management and trade finance capabilities.

At the time, it noted that the Citi Token Services uses blockchain technology and smart contracts to offer an “always-on” and programmable financial service to institutional clients. Apart from that, it also introduced a suite of payment solutions meant for financial institutions. The solutions were meant to help the clients bolster their customer experience.