Citi Malaysia’s commitment to diversity and inclusion isn’t just merely ticking the box. It is about championing gender equality, driving economic progress for women and enhancing Citi Women’s network connectivity. It is creating awareness, championing education, and acting on it to bring about change. Citi led that change with the recent appointment of Jane Fraser, the first female CEO of a global bank. Globally, to achieve progress towards gender pay equity, Citi has set representation goals to increase representation of women in senior roles. By the end of 2021, Citi will improve representation of women in Assistant Vice President (AVP) to Managing Director (MD) level roles to at least 40% globally. In Asia, 50 % of Citi’s workforce are female.
In Malaysia, over 64% of Citi’s employees are women and 64.7% sit with the CEO on the bank’s senior management committee. Citi is focusing on attracting talent, development and retention and ensuring a path to promotion.
In conjunction with this year’s International Women’s Day celebration, Citi Malaysia hosted its International Women’s Day Flagship event with a webinar session with Datuk Nicol David who was recently accorded The World’s Greatest Athlete of All Time. Datuk Nicol spoke to over 400 Citi Malaysia employees on The Strongest Mindset.
At the IWD flagship event, CEO Citi Malaysia Usman Ahmed said, “Datuk Nicol’s talk titled The Strongest Mindset resonates well with year’s Choose to Challenge theme of breaking barriers and having a focused determination to excel and win. It calls for each one of us to adopt a proactive stance to collectively create an inclusive society. This is indeed timely for us at Citi as we champion excellence and build the bank of the future. There were valuable lessons for us today, relevant to what we do and how we can reframe our perspectives, show resilience and be our best.”
“At Citi, we celebrate the achievement, leadership and tenacity of the women across our firm as well as in our community. We fully embrace a balanced gender diverse workforce and will continue to maintain a strong and diverse talent base at all levels, one that is inclusive and based on merit in support of a more equitable world.” He added.
Speaking to Citi employees on gender biasness during the session, Datuk Nicol David said, “Even in sports, there’s bound to be some competition between women and men. At times, women have to push themselves a little further to gain the recognition they deserve. There’s still a lot of work to be done in terms of bridging the gender inequality gap and slowly but surely, we’re starting to see marked improvement. When both men and women unite and work together as one, there’s so much growth and impact that can be achieved in terms of getting the right recognition and opportunities.”
“The one thing that motivated me to stay at the top was improvement. I did not stop at just being World No. 1, I made sure I kept on improving. I needed to be ready for anything that comes my way, and improvement was my only motivation and only focus right in front of me,” she added elaborating on her topic The Strongest Mindset.
In Asia Pacific, Citi has diversity programs including Citi Women’s Leadership Development Program (CWLDP), ASCENT, Inspiring Women Leadership Program (IWLP) and the EDGE Program. These programs are focused on leveling the playing field in the development and career advancement of women talent at Citi. Although the programs have shifted to a virtual format amidst the pandemic, the level of investment, participation and energy remains high and demonstrates Citi’s commitment to increasing its pipeline of women leaders.
Citi Malaysia is also active in championing and supporting employees having created a Women’s Network – the Diversity Advocates. Launched in 2017, Diversity Advocates is led by its sponsor, CEO Citi Malaysia Usman Ahmed. The network’s principal focus is to develop its women talent both professionally and personally and equip them with the skills and knowledge as well as network to help them grow with the organization. The Diversity Advocates champions Citi’s policies in support of gender equality as well as assist women colleagues through challenges and opportunities faced both at home and at the workplace through coaching, mentorships, and networking opportunities.
Citi has also opened doors for women around the world through its Citizenship efforts. Citi Malaysia together with its Citi Foundation grant partner Asia School of Business (ASB) via its young entrepreneurs RYSE Program, has supported three 100% women-owned small businesses. Since 2019, 65.8% of participants in this flagship entrepreneurship program were women and 35 Malaysian women entrepreneurs shared their experiences with young women entrepreneurs during these RYSE programs. The program is also managed by an all-women team led by Dr Melati Nungsari of ASB.
Citi has been in Malaysia since 1959 and has a workforce of close to 5,000 employees. Awarded ‘AAA” rating by RAM Ratings for the past 20 consecutive years, Citi Malaysia provides consumers, corporations and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services and wealth management.
The Citi Solutions Centers, located in Kuala Lumpur and Penang, support Citi operations in over 50 countries globally.
