Citi (NYSE:C) said during its recent Q3 earnings call that tokenization is the part of its business it’s most excited about.
During the call on Tuesday, Jane Fraser, Citi Chair and Chief Executive Officer, described the benefits of incorporating blockchain technology, explaining that it is “so easy for clients to move money from one account within Citi to another.”
“This capability is now operating in seven markets around the world and connects into our 24/7 clearing capabilities, meaning it’s not only instant and always-on between Citi accounts, but also connects into 300 peer banks around the world. That’s a compelling proposition for clients.”
Citi Token Services and deposit tokenization now operate in seven markets globally, providing 24/7 clearing capabilities, including instant transfers, and connecting to 300 banks worldwide. Citi holds over $1.5 trillion in deposits, an amount that has risen by 9% year over year.
On stablecoins, Fraser was subdued, describing the technology as “clunky” and noting more compliance challenges.
She noted that Citi is launching a digital asset custody service later this year.
Regarding the utilization of artificial intelligence (AI), Fraser said that AI is earning and saving them money:
“AI is accelerating our product development life cycle, we’re launching new products at lower cost and faster speed, typically seeing a 30% to 40% increase in the speed of product launches. Another example: 14,000 of our engineers use our main agentic coding tool, Devin, making it much more efficient to do work in-house. We’ve been insourcing work and have reduced our tech vendor spend by 30% year-over-year as a consequence, with a long way still to go.”
Citi reported Q3 net income of $5.2 billion, or $2.85 per diluted share, on revenues of $23.8 billion. This compares to the prior-year period of net income of $3.8 billion, or $1.86 per diluted share, on revenues of $22.1 billion.