Financial institutions are cautiously deploying AI to crack down on fraud associated with digital assets. Crypto-related scams, ransomware, darknet markets transactions and money laundering cost financial institutions $154 billion in 2025, a 162% increase from 2024, according to blockchain company Chainanalysis’ Jan. 8 report. Banks are gearing up their infrastructure to help customers transact, store and invest in digital assets, which includes developing better fraud and anti-money laundering processes, Scott Southall, managing director at Citi Services, told FinAi New. “We’ve seen AI tools being […]
Citi is looking inward to identify and develop new AI use cases and deploy existing AI tools within the organization. Citi has launched two internal programs this year, AI Champions and AI Accelerators, Payal Jain, head of application engineering and platforms at the bank, told FinAi News. The programs, comprised of more than 4,000 Citi colleagues globally, “help teams adopt tools, navigate, troubleshoot and share best practices,” Jain said. The bank has 229,000 full-time employees, according to its third-quarter earnings report. […]
AI is responsible for productivity gains at some of the nation’s largest banks, leaders said at the Goldman Sachs 2025 U.S. Financial Services Conference this week. Executives from Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo quantified AI efficiency gains, from coding to operator savings. Bank of America: AI-driven Erica is equivalent to 11K FTEs The $2.5 trillion bank’s AI-driven consumer business assistant, Erica, had 1.4 billion digital connections with customers in […]
Citi is deploying AI at scale internally to drive efficiency, with several tools already available to nearly 80% of its team. The $1.6 trillion bank introduced internal AI tools to more than 182,000 colleagues in 84 jurisdictions in 2025, and plans to expand access, Payal Jain, head of application engineering and platforms at Citi, told […]
NEW YORK — Citi is deploying AI not as an additional layer in its tech stack but rather building its modern applications on top of a centralized platform. New tech deployment must generate value at Citi, Head of AI Shobhit Varshney, said at Reuters’ Momentum AI Finance USA conference on Nov. 17. “The definition of […]
Banks in the United States are continuing their investment in AI, which will have both short- and long-term effects on their efficiency ratios. Publicly held banks are expected to experience a slight increase in their average efficiency ratio — from 56.3% in 2025 to 56.9% in 2026 and 57.1% in 2027, according to Deloitte’s 2026 […]
Citi is mandating training for AI prompts through learning modules to ensure employees can utilize the technology to its fullest extent. “This training is a practical guide to mastering a key skill for the future and unlocking the full potential of AI,” Tim Ryan, head of technology and business enablement at Citi, posted on […]
Citigroup is starting to realize returns on its investments in generative AI and tech modernization. The $1.7 trillion bank reported that its gen AI tool saved employees 100,000 hours during the third quarter. The bank conducted 1 million code reviews in Q3, up from 220,000 code reviews in Q1, according to its Q3 earnings report. […]
A consortium of major banks, including Bank of America, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, and UBS, announced on Friday that they will collaborate to explore the development of stablecoins pegged to G7 currencies.
A New Era For Crypto In Mainstream Finance
The renewed interest in stablecoins comes in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s endorsement of the sector, which has reignited discussions about integrating blockchain technology into mainstream finance.
Currently, the stablecoin market is heavily dominated by Tether (USDT), based in El Salvador, which accounts for approximately $179 billion of the total $310 billion in stablecoins circulating, according to data from CoinGecko.
The 1D chart shows the total market cap drop in what has been the largest liquidation event in crypto. Source: TOTAL on TradingView.com
The banks involved in this new initiative, which also includes Santander, Barclays, BNP Paribas, MUFG, TD Bank Group, and others, have stated that the goal is to assess whether a collaborative industry offering could enhance competition and bring the benefits of digital assets to the market, all while ensuring compliance.
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Notably, France’s Societe Generale recently became the first major bank to issue a dollar-backed stablecoin through its digital asset subsidiary, although it has seen limited adoption, with only $30.6 million currently in circulation.
In addition to this consortium, a separate group of nine European banks, including prominent names like ING and UniCredit, is also in the process of launching a euro-denominated stablecoin.
Meanwhile, Citi has made strides in the stablecoin space by investing in BVNK, a company focused on stablecoin infrastructure.
Demand For Stablecoin Solutions Grows
Although Citi has not disclosed the amount of its investment, the co-founder of BVNK, Chris Harmse, told during an interview with CNBC, that the company’s valuation has surpassed $750 million, as reported in its latest funding round.
Harmse remarked on the increasing demand for stablecoin infrastructure, particularly with the emergence of regulatory clarity through the passage of the GENIUS Act in the US. This has prompted major US banks to strategically position themselves in the crypto ecosystem.
Citi’s CEO, Jane Fraser, has indicated that the bank is contemplating the issuance of its own stablecoin while also exploring custodian services for digital assets. However, Citi is not alone in its pursuit of digital asset integration; JPMorgan Chase has already launched its own stablecoin-like token, JPMD.
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Banks are increasingly investigating how blockchain technology—originally developed to support Bitcoin—can reduce transaction costs and enhance processing speeds across various financial operations.
This exploration includes the concept of tokenization, which involves creating digital tokens that represent traditional assets, such as deposits. For instance, Bank of New York Mellon is currently looking into tokenized deposits, while HSBC has already rolled out a tokenized deposit service.
Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com
Citi has sent out a letter to Citi Shop Your Way Mastercard cardholders informing them that their cards will be changed to a Citi Mastercard.
Here’s what you need to know:
No action required: Keep using your current card until your new card arrives. You will receive a new card by December 31, 2025.
No change to card number: Your current card number, APR’s and account history are not changing with this card replacement.
No change to managing your account: Continue to make payments, check online statements, set up account alerts and more at syw.accountonline.com with your existing sign-on credentials.
Cardmember Offers: You’ll continue to be considered for exclusive cardmember offers with your card.
Rewards Program updates:
Starting November 3, 2025, you will no longer earn Shop Your Way Additional Category Earn Program Global Points when using your Shop Your Way Mastercard. The Shop Your Way Additional Category
Earn Program is ending as of November 2, 2025. The Shop Your Way Points you’ve earned through November 2, 2025 will not be impacted by this change.
The points you’ve earned are still valid through the end of the quarter following one year from the date they were awarded.
Beginning November 3, 2025 the new card rewards program will start.
Our Verdict
In February it was announced that the Citi Sears card would be converted and now it looks like the SYWR card will too. The big question is will this card continue to offer outsized targeted spending bonuses? The terms state it “You’ll continue to be considered for exclusive cardmember offers with your card.” but what that means in practice could be very different.
Update 9/11/25: Deal is back, unknown end date. Hat tip to reader Nathan
Update 7/11/25: A lot more people seeing this offer, maybe it’s available for everyone, if you can find it. I just got it as a interstitial page after logging into my Citi account. It only took a minute or two to go through the prompts. I also clicked through to a merchant and then got an email confirmation that the extension enrollment was completed. Some hours later I got an email confirmation of a pending statement credit of $10 on my Custom Cash card.
The Offer
No direct link
Enjoy a one-time $10 statement credit when you enroll in Citi Shop and download the extension on your browser or iOS device. To ensure you receive your bonus, make sure you are signed in to the extension. You will have access to money-saving offers at over 5,000 online merchants you already love to shop at.
Offer ends July 20, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. ET.
Our Verdict
There isn’t any purchase requirement. It should be possible to download the extension and delete it soon-after, and still be eligible for the bonus. Some time after downloading the extension, you should get an email from Citi confirming that the statement credit will be coming.
This offer is showing on some Citi cards. Rewards & Offers > Offers for You and look for the Citi Shop offer. Others mention this link. I got it as an interstitial page upon Citi cards login.
Many applicants of the Citi Strata Elite have had their accounts locked and a request for a 4506-C (Request for Transcript of Tax Return) has been sent in the mail. Citi is stating that after the 4506-C is provided that it will take up to 30 days to process.
It’s unclear why Citi is requesting this form. Some reps are stating that this is because this information was missed during the application, where others are incorrectly stating the IRS is requiring it. It seems that people that used the 100,000 point link and others that didn’t use that link have both had their accounts frozen and there is a reddit thread collecting datapoints.
Citi is integrating AI-driven automations into its digital business banking platform with the goal of greater efficiency. CitiDirect Commercial Banking aims to bring all banking functions, including foreign exchange, loans and cash advances, to one place, Mark Sugden, head of CitiDirect Commercial Banking and digital transformation for Citi Commercial Bank, told Bank Automation News. […]
Citi is expanding its use of Google Cloud to access the cloud provider’s generative AI capabilities. Rohit Bhat, general manager and managing director at Google Cloud’s financial services, told Bank Automation News at Money20/20 this week that the $1.6 trillion bank will also look to Google Cloud for: Modernization of its tech stack; Data analytics […]
Citi Retail Services monitors client feedback to drive innovation efforts, Terry O’Neil, head of connected commerce and strategic growth for Citi Retail Services, told Bank Automation News.
Terry O’Neil
In a 2023 Citi survey, 85% of respondents agreed that retailers need flexible payment options at checkout, O’Neil told BAN. To meet that need, the $2.4 trillion Citi launched Citi Pay in 2023.
“The use of our Citi Pay offerings support this finding that consumers are looking for greater flexibility at checkout,” he said.
In an interview with Bank Automation News, O’Neil discussed the growth of Citi Pay, innovation efforts within Citi Retail Services and how he leads his team with ongoing consumer feedback in mind. What follows is an edited version of that conversation.
Bank Automation News: How do insights help your team innovate around client needs?
Terry O’Neil: The needs of our merchant partners and consumers are at the core of every Citi Pay innovation and we’re committed to ongoing dialogue with partners and customers to ensure our products continually evolve to meet their dynamic needs. This means that during the development of Citi Pay, countless hours were spent talking to merchants and consumers to ensure their needs were being understood and delivered on. Research found that both merchants and consumers were looking for three key things in payment products: flexibility, security, and ease of use. Citi Pay products meet all of these criteria.
While we launched Citi Pay in 2023, we continue to listen to customer and merchant feedback to enhance our products. With a deliberate focus on flexibility, we designed the Citi Pay products and platform to be very nimble.
For example, in response to feedback from distributors seeking flexibility to support secondary lending options to their merchants (with Citi being the primary lender), our team implemented an Open API concept. This approach separated the user experience from the APIs, enabling distributors to host customer acquisition experiences on their end.
BAN: How has Citi Pay grown since its launch a year ago?
TO: This fall marked the one-year anniversary of Citi Pay, Citi’s suite of pay-over-time offerings, including Citi Pay Credit, a digital-only credit card and dedicated line of credit, and Citi Pay Installment Loan, a monthly merchant installment loan. Since its launch, Citi Pay has seen notable growth establishing relationships with new merchant and payment platform partners. For example, Citi Pay has announced new partnerships with payment platforms like FreedomPay and ChargeAfter.
Today, Citi Pay products are available with over 150 of our merchant partners, and this number continues to grow as we continue toward our goal of bringing the Citi Pay suite of products to consumers at scale both in-store and online.
BAN: What does the adoption of Citi Pay say about the future of digital payments?
TO: Point-of-sale lending products — like Citi Pay Credit and Citi Pay Installment Loan — increase the number of payment options available to consumers at checkout, and this added flexibility will be a defining feature of the future of digital payments.
Citi Pay products are used by merchants of all sizes thanks to availability through a set of APIs or via an application, which highlights the democratization of point-of-sale lending in terms of merchant availability. This indicates that the future of digital payments and the flexibility offered by pay-over-time payment products won’t be limited to larger merchants but will extend to merchants of all sizes and industries.
Citi Pay’s suite of pay-over-time offerings provide consumers with a simple, intuitive checkout process. In fact, a crucial component when developing Citi Pay was ensuring consumers could apply and check out with the items in their basket in a single session. This real-time and fully automated decisioning application experience is representative of the frictionless experience that stands at the core of the future of digital payments.
BAN: Are there any innovations in the pipeline your team is working on that you are excited about?
TO: We are always working to expand the Citi Pay family of partners on both the merchant side and with payment and commerce platforms. The Citi Retail Services team is consistently exploring opportunities to facilitate greater integration of our offerings amongst our existing partners. We have some exciting developments on the horizon that we’ll be excited to share when the time comes.
BAN: How would you describe your leadership style?
TO: My personal view is that the best type of leader is one who leads by example and that is the mindset I strive to come to work with every day. Throughout my career, my roles have been intrapreneurial in nature — working to build new capabilities and businesses within large, well-established financial service leaders. This type of experience has led me to define my leadership style.
I encourage the teams that I lead to be self-starters and go-getters and come to the table with a solution when asking a question. None of us know the answers 100% of the time and that’s OK, but being able to workshop a proposed solution together can often lead to the best outcome. I find that this approach also instills confidence in my talented team when a similar situation arises in the future.
Register here for early-bird pricing for Bank Automation Summit U.S. 2025, taking place March 3-4 in Nashville, Tenn. View the full event agenda here.
Generative AI allows banks to analyze unstructured data, which makes up about 80% of all data within financial institutions — a capability not possible just two years ago. Unstructured data includes emails, audio, video, contractual information and more, Prag Sharma, global head of artificial intelligence for Citi’s center of excellence, said during FinTech Futures Oct. […]
Citi posted cost reductions in the third quarter as it benefits from ongoing simplification efforts. The $1.7 trillion bank’s total operating expenses clocked in at $13.3 billion, down 2% year over year, according to the bank’s Q3 2024 earnings supplement. The bank’s technology spend, however, increased 1% YoY to $2.3 billion. The savings were driven […]
