Bahrain

Please note that the below mentioned complaint handling process is applicable only to complaints or queries raised by customers of Citibank, N.A., Bahrain Branch ("Citi Bahrain") regarding Citi Bahrain products, services or offers. Citi Bahrain shall not be responsible for handling any complaints or queries raised by customers of Citibank N.A. branches outside of Bahrain or any other Citigroup entities.

At Citi, we endeavor to provide a world-class level of service through a continuous process of staff training and improvement in our processes. Whilst we are grateful for your positive feedback with regards to our standards of service, it is equally important for us to welcome any concerns you may have with regards to the service provided by our bank. This will help us in further improving our existing standards.

In this regard, you may register any concerns or suggestions regarding the Service through the following channels.

Direct number: +973 17588555 / +973 17584109 / 17584207
Fax number: +97317588545
Email: citiservice.bahrain@citi.com
Specifically, for complaints, please reach out to our Complaints Officer Ms. Lamees Almahroos at lamees.abbas.almahroos@citi.com or telephone +973 17584123.

We aim to acknowledge your complaint within five working days and will contact through the contact details provided. A comprehensive investigation into the concern or complaint will then be raised. You can find the full complaints guide here.

CitiService is an integrated customer inquiry line for after-sales service dedicated to giving you easy access to accurate answers in the shortest possible time. In today's environment, speed and accuracy are critical - we know you need the right answers, right away. With CitiService, you only need to call +973 17588555. One number will put you straight through to a CitiService Officer who will be able to handle all your customer service inquires on-line. If they can't give you an answer immediately, they will be able to tell you exactly when you can expect a response and update you regularly on your inquiry.

CitiService has been designed to show our commitment to achieve customer satisfaction. The concepts & principles of CitiService are to provide our corporate clientele one gateway into the bank for Investigations and Information regarding products that Citibank® N.A. offers.

CitiService is dedicated to you, bringing superior customer service to your fingertips. It's fast, efficient and we are ready to serve you right away.

What kind of inquiries will CitiService handle?

CitiService handles only corporate enquires including:

• General product information
• Balance and statement inquiries
• Transaction investigations
• Requests for technical support
• Information on banking practices
   

When can I contact CitiService?

Corporate and Investment Banking CitiService is open for your inquiries & investigations from 08:30 to 17:30 from Sunday to Thursday.

How can I contact CitiService?

You can access CitiService by phone, fax, mail or e-mail via the following

Phone numbers: +973 17588555 / 17584109 / 17584207
Fax number: +97317588545
Address:
CitiService Bahrain
Citibank House
1133 Road 2819
Al Seef District 428
Kingdom of Bahrain
E-mail: citiservicebahrain.co@citi.com

What kind of products does CitiService cover?

CitiService covers all of your Corporate and Investment Banking customer service inquiries for the following products:

• Cash Management Products & Services
• Account Services
• How long should I expect to wait for a response?

Straightforward requests for information, such as balance or statement inquiries, will be answered immediately. More complex requests, such as transactions & requests for action or investigations, will be answered within standardized time frames (As per the nature of the enquiry).
 

Managing Risk – An Overview

For Citi Bahrain, effective risk management is of primary importance to its overall operations. Accordingly, Citi’s risk management process has been designed to monitor, evaluate and manage the principal risks it assumes in conducting its activities. Specifically, the activities that Citi engages in, and the risks those activities generate, must be consistent with Citi’s mission and value proposition, the key principles that guide it, and Citi’s risk appetite.

Under Citi’s mission and value proposition, which was developed by Citi’s senior leadership and distributed throughout the Company, Citi strives to serve its clients as a trusted partner by responsibly providing financial services that enable growth and economic progress while earning and maintaining the public’s trust by constantly adhering to the highest ethical standards. As such, Citi asks all employees to ensure that their decisions pass three tests: (1) they are in our clients’ interests (2) create economic value and (3) they are always systemically responsible. Additionally, Citi evaluates employees’ performance against behavioral expectations set out in Citi’s leadership standards, which were designed in part to effectuate Citi’s mission and value proposition. Other culture-related efforts in connection with conduct risk, ethics and leadership, escalation and treating customers fairly help Citi to execute its mission and value proposition.

Citi’s risk governance framework consists of the policies, standards, procedures and processes through which Citi identifies, assesses, measures, manages, monitors, reports and controls risks across the Company.

It also emphasizes Citi’s risk culture and lays out standards, procedures and programs that are designed and undertaken to enhance the Company’s risk culture, embed this culture deeply within the organization, and give employees tools to make sound and ethical risk decisions and to escalate issues appropriately.

Citi manages its risks through each of its three lines of defense: (i) business management, (ii) independent control functions and (iii) internal audit. The three lines of defense collaborate with each other in structured forums and processes to bring various perspectives together and to lead the organization toward outcomes that are in clients’ interests, create economic value and are systemically responsible.

Managing Operational Risk – An Overview

Operational risk for Citi Branch, is managed in line with the Operational Risk Management Policy (issued at a group level), which defines an overall framework designed to balance strong corporate oversight with well-defined independent risk management. Citi Bahrain has also adopted the ‘Three Lines of Defense’ Governance Structure for effective management of Operational Risk as well as the “Manager’s Control Assessment (MCA)” Standards and Procedure to assist / support business managers to self-assess significant operational risks and key controls and identify and address weaknesses in the design and / or operating effectiveness of internal controls that mitigate significant operational risks.

Citi Bahrain also has a clear process for identifying, accounting and reporting events related to operational risk. Each loss (or gain) posted on the books of the Bank, & recording the same in a database (Loss Capture system) in line with the thresholds as defined by Citi’s Operational Risk Management Data Quality Standards. An analysis of the significant losses reported are done in order to take the necessary corrective actions & implement mitigating controls.

Additionally, the in-country Operational Risk Management, works proactively with the businesses and other independent control functions to embed a strong operational risk management culture and framework across Citi. Operational Risk Management engages with the businesses to ensure effective implementation of the Operational Risk Management framework by focusing on (i) identification, analysis and assessment of operational risks, (ii) effective challenge of key control issues and operational risks and (iii) anticipation and mitigation of operational risk events.

At a country level there exists a Country Coordinating Committee (CCC) which is the principal committee for escalation and reporting of operational risk events, internal control, legal, compliance, regulatory and risk issues. The key objectives of the CCC are:

• To discuss and challenge the management of the most significant risk and control issues impacting the local business activities, including the proposed associated action and remediation plans.
• To monitor the management of business risks that affect the franchise and as well as its constituent parts through assisting Senior Management to focus on the most significant risk, control issues, emerging risks impacting business objectives and activities, and the timeliness and effectiveness of corrective actions.
  The Citi Country Officer (CCO) of Citi Bahrain, serves as the Committee chair and the committee comprises of key representatives from the First, Second & Third Lines of Defense.

Operational Risk Appetite Statement

Objectives

Citi Bahrain’s goal is to keep operational risk at appropriate levels relative to the characteristics of its businesses, the markets in which it operates, its capital and liquidity, and the competitive, economic and regulatory environment. The entity recognizes that operational risk is inherent in its global business activities and related support processes. To anticipate, mitigate and control operational risk, the entity follows Citi-wide policies, and the institutional framework for assessing, monitoring and communicating operational risks and the overall operating effectiveness of the internal control environment across Citi.

Risk Appetite

Citi Bahrain also recognizes that operational risk can occur broadly and has impact beyond financial losses. Local Management has implemented a Manager’s Control Assessment (MCA) program that relies on key indicators across various operational risk categories and established methodologies and tools to facilitate monitoring where appropriate so that any exceptions and / or negative trends are captured in operational risk management reporting. Citi Bahrain:

• Maintains a well-controlled operating environment for its businesses and functions to mitigate the most material risks (e.g., including but not limited to external fraud and errors in processing, data);
• Expects employees to uphold the highest ethical standards of conduct in accordance with Citi’s values, policies and control framework and report concerns as set forth in the employee code of conduct;
• Expects Third Parties providing significant products or services to businesses and support areas will hold themselves to the highest standards of conduct in accordance with Citi’s values, policies and control framework;
• Does not tolerate:
  • Violations of laws or regulations,
  • Fraud committed by its staff,
  • Deliberate actions that result in harm to clients;
• The entity recognizes that mistakes occur but has very little appetite for:
  • Activities which could result in financial statements that inadequately reflect Citi’s financial profile or in a material weakness in financial reporting controls,
  • Threats to company assets or data arising from malicious attacks or inadequate protection,
  • Damage from inability to timely recover from a major interruption to business operations, technology or facilities,
  • Behavior inconsistent with responsibly providing financial services or which could result in reputational harm.

Corporate Governance Framework

Citibank, N.A., Bahrain Branch ("Citi Bahrain") is a wholly owned branch of Citibank, N.A. (“Citibank” or the “Bank”), a national banking association organized and existing under the laws of the United States of America) and a subsidiary of Citigroup Inc. (“Citi”). Citi established a ""Governance Policy"" which establishes group-wide principles and requirements for Corporate Governance, covering the operation of global Governance Committees which support’s Citibank’s Board Oversight. This Governance Policy sets out the requirements and principles to implement a comprehensive, transparent, and globally consistent governance framework to oversee and govern Citi’s risks and controls. The governance principles apply to all primary risks within Citi’s Risk Governance Framework (""Citi's RGF""), specifically credit, market (trading and non-trading), liquidity, operational, compliance, strategic and reputation risks, which also aligns to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) Heightened Standards. 

Citi’s Governance is aligned through its RGF which provides guiding principles by which Citi identifies, assesses, measures, monitors and controls its risk profile. Further to the above, Citi has a ""Country Governance Standard"", which establishes globally consistent country-level governance standards that are aligned with the Governance Policy which stipulates Groupwide governance requirements. The Country Governance Standard establishes the role and responsibilities of a Citi Country Officer & Banking Head (“CCOBH”) and outlines requirements for a single country Governance Committee - Country Coordinating Committee (“CCC”), whose primary purpose is to support legal entity governance. The CCC is deployed to cover all the seven ERMF Level 0 risk categories mentioned in the RGF. The CCC is authorized to govern and oversee the management of these risk categories, including making decisions with regard to actions necessary to manage risk profile against the defined risk appetite. It covers all Citi entities in Bahrain to include (i) Citibank, N.A., Bahrain branch (Conventional Wholesale Banking); (ii) Citibank, N.A., Bahrain branch (Conventional Retail Banking); (iii) Citi Islamic Investment Bank E.C. Bahrain (Wholesale Banking on Islamic Principles); and (iv) Citicorp Banking Corporation – Bahrain branch (Conventional Wholesale Banking).

Citi’s international franchises have been managed by a globally standardized framework, centred around the CCOBH role and the CCC. Local regulatory environment, the size and visibility of Citi’s presence, the range of business and product lines, and the complexity of franchise structure differ in the countries in which Citi has presence. The CCOBH has the ultimate responsibility to oversee governance in each country in ways that meet the need of the local franchise and the requirements and expectations of local regulators, in accordance with the Governance Policy. The CCOBH plays an important role of bringing the country and legal entity lenses of governance together. Citi Bahrain (given its size, complexity, and risk profile) is classified as a Core Network Country. All Business and control functions of Citi Bahrain form the Governance Committee – CCC and they provide reasonable assurance of the effectiveness and efficiency of firm's operations. Depending on the severity, issues are also escalated to the Middle East and Africa cluster Governance Committees (or above depending on the issue severity). The CCOBH performs the crucial role of leading and protecting Citi franchise. The CCC oversees all operational and business activities of Citi Bahrain and provides reasonable assurance of the effectiveness and efficiency of firm's operations. 

CBB mandated purpose codes are available here in English and Arabic - please refer to Section 6.

Pricing Schedule available here.