Liz Coyne

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                <li>Citi is working to connect clients to wallets and enabling corporate clients to accept consumer payments, Fraser said</li>
                <li>The global bank sees benefits from the digital asset space around processing, fractionalization, programmability and transparency, she said.</li>
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<p>Digital assets will be part of the future of financial services and financial markets, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser told Yahoo Finance Monday morning.</p>



<p>During a larger conversation about Citigroup employees returning to the office, she shared her views on decentralization, digital assets, cryptocurrencies and more.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">&quot;It’s clear that digital assets will be a part of the financial services and financial markets, the future of them,&quot; <a href="https://twitter.com/Citi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Citi</a> CEO Jane Fraser says, later adding: &quot;Real-time payments will be here in the near term, and digital currencies may be part of that future.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/jKUi01vLxu">pic.twitter.com/jKUi01vLxu</a></p>&mdash; Yahoo Finance (@YahooFinance) <a href="https://twitter.com/YahooFinance/status/1452632446231535627?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 25, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<p>“It&#8217;s clear that digital assets will get part of the financial services, and financial markets,” Fraser said. “Real-time payments are both, both in the sense of their frictionless, they&#8217;ll become more global. They&#8217;ll become ubiquitous. [They] will be here in the near term, and digital currencies may be part of that future”</p>



<p>Two years after the global bank abandoned its CitiCoin crypto experiment, Citi <a href="https://www.citivelocity.com/citigps/bitcoin/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a> that it was <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/citigroup-gets-back-into-crypto/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">considering</a> offering client cryptocurrency services such as trading, custody and financing.</p>



<p>Now the bank is proceeding thoughtfully and with appropriate caution, said Frasier. “There&#8217;s still a lot of questions about how the space evolves around regulatory clarity around some of the scalability around resiliency, certainly around some transparency, and making sure that there are the appropriate guardrails in the system, particularly for our retail clients we don&#8217;t want them participating in areas that know they&#8217;re not necessarily as well equipped to understand the risks of.”</p>



<p>In late August the bank was <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/citi-considering-trading-bitcoin-futures/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">looking into</a> trading bitcoin futures contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) in an effort to provide institutional clients with exposure to digital assets. Then, Citi’s move into bitcoin futures trading followed other major banks announcing digital asset strategies, including Goldman Sachs and Bank of America.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Today Citi is working to connect clients to wallets, and enabling businesses and corporate clients to accept consumer payments — but proceeding with caution, according to Fraser.&nbsp;</p>



<p>“We&#8217;re building the infrastructure for retail, real-time payments, we&#8217;re doing so cautiously because space is moving so quickly, and not all the guardrails that you would like to see are yet in place,” she said. “As a banking CEO, I do believe guardrails are important and necessary with a safe, safety and soundness of the financial system.&#8221;</p>


Citi CEO Fraser: ‘We’re Building the Infrastructure for Retail, Real-time Payments’

Ben Strack

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                <li>Citi “being very thoughtful” about its approach on crypto given the questions around regulatory frameworks and supervisory expectations </li>
                <li>Potential plans to trade futures would follow similar moves by Goldman Sachs and Bank of America in recent months </li>
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<p>Citigroup is looking into trading bitcoin futures contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) following moves by other banks to provide their clients with crypto exposure.</p>



<p>The global bank is considering products such as futures for some of its institutional clients given the strong regulation that such investment offerings operate under, a Citi spokesperson told Blockworks.</p>



<p>“Our clients are increasingly interested in this space, and we are monitoring these developments,” the representative said. “Given the many questions around regulatory frameworks, supervisory expectations, and other factors, we are being very thoughtful about our approach.”</p>



<p>Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions various financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services and wealth management. It has about 200 million customer accounts and operates in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The company’s potential plans come several months after <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/goldman-sachs-doubles-down-on-crypto-with-derivatives-trading-team/">Goldman Sachs announced</a> a digital assets strategy involving offering bitcoin derivatives to clients and opening a dedicated trading desk for cryptocurrency. The Wall Street giant named Galaxy Digital the liquidity provider <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/goldman-sachs-teams-with-galaxy-to-meet-institutional-digital-asset-demand/">for its bitcoin futures block trades</a> through CME Group in June.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Last month, Bank of America was also reportedly <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/bank-of-america-reportedly-to-offer-bitcoin-futures-trading/">set to use bitcoin futures</a> through CME Group shortly after it <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/bank-of-america-launches-cryptocurrency-research-effort/">began research coverage</a> of cryptocurrency and digital assets.</p>



<p>“I expect that traditional Wall Street will try to get creative on how to benefit from crypto without diving in head-first,” David Tawil, president of ProChain Capital, previously told Blockworks. “It’s more likely that they will be forced [rather] than take the initiative.”</p>



<p>Outside of trading bitcoin futures, banks have shown more willingness to enter the crypto space. In July, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/jpmorgan-reportedly-to-allow-clients-to-access-crypto-funds/">JPMorgan reportedly</a> became the first large US bank to allow its financial advisors to give all its wealth management clients access to cryptocurrency funds.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Morgan Stanley confirmed in April that it was offering certain clients — individual investors with at least $2 million or investment firms with $5 million or more — exposure to bitcoin through two external crypto funds.</p>



<p><meta charset="utf-8"><strong><em>Want more investor-focused content on digital assets? <a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/events/digital-asset-summit-2021-2/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us</a> September 13th and 14th for the Digital Asset Summit (DAS) in NYC. Use code ARTICLE for $75 off your ticket. <a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/events/digital-asset-summit-2021-2/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Buy it now</a>.</em></strong></p>


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