Citibank Completes Euro Conversion Ahead of Schedule.

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 3, 1999--Citibank has completed its Euro conversion programme across all of its business several hours ahead of schedule with more than 2000 people working around the globe.

As the only bank with offices in all 15 of the EU countries Citibank was able to leverage this expertise to ensure the transition was a smooth one without incident.

"After two and a half years of intensive preparation, the end-of-year processing, euro conversion and verification processes ran according to plan and were completed on time," declared Bill Grant, EMU Programme Director for the Global Corporate Bank. "It is a testament to the dedication and hard work of all those who have been working on this project for so long."

Citibank has been preparing for the advent of the euro since the beginning of 1996. Over 900 people within its Global Corporate Bank worked on the euro conversion project. All of the bank's businesses, products, and support areas in the 100 countries where the bank does business were charged with the task of defining customer needs and delivering euro-compliant products and services. Business Project Managers in each business, and EMU co-ordinators in each country, managed the EMU preparations. Overall activities were co-ordinated by the Global Corporate Bank's EMU Core Team.

The conversion weekend began with year-end processing in all of Citibank's 18 Western European branches. Upon successful completion of the year-end processing, these branches--as well as the global processing hubs in Europe, Asia and North America--were able to begin their conversion processes and verification procedures.

Since the start of the bank's EMU project, over 150 EMU-related central projects have been initiated by the Corporate EMU Programme. All branches worldwide have followed a rigorous country certification process, identifying all the systems and process changes needed to accommodate the euro. Teams of highly trained banking specialists have worked to deliver EMU-compliant software and processes. All systems have undergone stringent testing to ensure accuracy, reliability and consistency in operations, as well as communication with interrelated systems. Third-party testing and implementation testing, and, importantly, testing with customers, completed the EMU process.

"Now that the euro has finally become a reality in the wholesale markets, we will continue to work with our global customers over the coming years to ensure a seamless transition to 2002, when the euro notes and coins are introduced," Grant noted.

In parallel to those efforts for the wholesale markets, Citibank's Global Consumer Bank is also thoroughly prepared for EMU. When Citibank opens for business as usual on Jan. 4, 1999, consumers in Europe and around the world will be able to transact in euro and can start experiencing a range of new euro products if they want to. Citibank is committed to helping its customers make a seamless transition to the euro, at their own time and at their own pace.

Citibank is equipped to offer a wide range of euro-compliant products and services across its corporate, consumer and private banking businesses. From cash management, short-term loans, foreign exchange services and trade services to project finance, fixed-income issuance and trading, securities custody, mutual funds and general banking, Citibank can service the financial and banking needs of its customers located in Europe and around the world. For Citibank the euro is already a global currency.