111<sub>a</sub>Our platform spans over 100 markets, including 64 proprietary Citi branch locations, and our global services model delivers a seamless experience that allows you to focus on growing your business. Our platform spans over 100 markets, including 64 proprietary Citi branch locations, and our global services model delivers a seamless experience that allows you to focus on growing your business. Our platform spans over 100 markets, including 64 proprietary Citi branch locations, and our global services model delivers a seamless experience that allows you to focus on growing your business. Our platform spans over 100 markets, including 64 proprietary Citi branch locations, and our global services model delivers a seamless experience that allows you to focus on growing your business.

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Although, broadly speaking, Africa rode out the pandemic-related economic crisis relatively well, with growth slowing much less than most economists forecast, the crisis has brought to a head many issues that were already emerging. Notably, following COVID-19, and then the rise in international interest rates, the widening fiscal deficits have proved hard to fund and led to defaults in Zambia and Ghana. But COVID-19 also highlighted the ongoing resilience of the growth story in Africa, which seems to have firmly put a floor on growth in many countries. The pandemic also underscored the importance of the informal sector as a safety net for many individuals and households across the continent. Not only has growth held up remarkably well, but there has been no wider spreading of defaults either. Yet the challenge facing the continent’s policymakers in the short term is clear: the need to narrow fiscal deficits. At present, this is set to be achieved under a new wave of International Monetary Fund (IMF) programs, which we have broadly dubbed the “New Age of Fiscal Austerity.” Unlike in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the new wave of IMF programs is not based on cutting spending; in fact, spending on health and education will be preserved. Instead, fiscal consolidation is largely driven by raising revenue. A key element of this will be taxing the informal sector. Coupled with this is the challenge to formulate new exchange rate policies in an era of higher global interest rates. It is also worth highlighting that after the last wave of defaults across Africa in the mid-1990s, better fiscal discipline and more flexible exchange rate regimes ushered in a strong pickup in growth, eventually encapsulated in the “Africa Rising” story. We think that at the time the hype around this story was overplayed, but that does not mean that there were not many real elements to it that still have important implications about how Africa will grow and develop going forward, or which we think will be the key elements of a “New Growth Model” for Africa. For a “New Growth Model” to emerge, however, African governments, and the private sector are going to have to work together to take advantage of the continent’s favorable demographics, technological developments, and a changing world economy. At the same time, it is critical to avoid getting caught up in a new hype and forgetting the importance of developing foundational infrastructure. There is an argument that politics could yet undermine such a “New Growth Model” playing out. While we accept that politics can be a constraint on development, we suspect that if the story is to play out as we hope, more African governments will simply have to get serious about economic growth and development as their central political and policy concerns. Finally, it is important to bear in mind that development does require clear politics and policy, but also has an element of luck. Moreover, it is perhaps a much more gradual process than is often popularly perceived. Africa has changed vastly in the last 50 years and will continue to change. The challenge for policymakers, facing young and demanding populations, is to try and speed up the process.

<p>Although, broadly speaking, Africa rode out the pandemic-related economic crisis relatively well, with growth slowing much less than most economists forecast, the crisis has brought to a head many issues that were already emerging. Notably, following COVID-19, and then the rise in international interest rates, the widening fiscal deficits have proved hard to fund and led to defaults in Zambia and Ghana.</p>
<p>But COVID-19 also highlighted the ongoing resilience of the growth story in Africa, which seems to have firmly put a floor on growth in many countries. The pandemic also underscored the importance of the informal sector as a safety net for many individuals and households across the continent. Not only has growth held up remarkably well, but there has been no wider spreading of defaults either. Yet the challenge facing the continent&rsquo;s policymakers in the short term is clear: the need to narrow fiscal deficits. At present, this is set to be achieved under a new wave of International Monetary Fund (IMF) programs, which we have broadly dubbed the &ldquo;New Age of Fiscal Austerity.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Unlike in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the new wave of IMF programs is not based on cutting spending; in fact, spending on health and education will be preserved. Instead, fiscal consolidation is largely driven by raising revenue. A key element of this will be taxing the informal sector. Coupled with this is the challenge to formulate new exchange rate policies in an era of higher global interest rates.</p>
<p>It is also worth highlighting that after the last wave of defaults across Africa in the mid-1990s, better fiscal discipline and more flexible exchange rate regimes ushered in a strong pickup in growth, eventually encapsulated in the &ldquo;Africa Rising&rdquo; story. We think that at the time the hype around this story was overplayed, but that does not mean that there were not many real elements to it that still have important implications about how Africa will grow and develop going forward, or which we think will be the key elements of a &ldquo;New Growth Model&rdquo; for Africa.</p>
<p>For a &ldquo;New Growth Model&rdquo; to emerge, however, African governments, and the private sector are going to have to work together to take advantage of the continent&rsquo;s favorable demographics, technological developments, and a changing world economy. At the same time, it is critical to avoid getting caught up in a new hype and forgetting the importance of developing foundational infrastructure.</p>
<p>There is an argument that politics could yet undermine such a &ldquo;New Growth Model&rdquo; playing out. While we accept that politics can be a constraint on development, we suspect that if the story is to play out as we hope, more African governments will simply have to get serious about economic growth and development as their central political and policy concerns.</p>
<p>Finally, it is important to bear in mind that development does require clear politics and policy, but also has an element of luck. Moreover, it is perhaps a much more gradual process than is often popularly perceived. Africa has changed vastly in the last 50 years and will continue to change. The challenge for policymakers, facing young and demanding populations, is to try and speed up the process.</p>

title1

Although, broadly speaking, Africa rode out the pandemic-related economic crisis relatively well, with growth slowing much less than most economists forecast, the crisis has brought to a head many issues that were already emerging. Notably, following COVID-19, and then the rise in international interest rates, the widening fiscal deficits have proved hard to fund and led to defaults in Zambia and Ghana. But COVID-19 also highlighted the ongoing resilience of the growth story in Africa, which seems to have firmly put a floor on growth in many countries. The pandemic also underscored the importance of the informal sector as a safety net for many individuals and households across the continent. Not only has growth held up remarkably well, but there has been no wider spreading of defaults either. Yet the challenge facing the continent’s policymakers in the short term is clear: the need to narrow fiscal deficits. At present, this is set to be achieved under a new wave of International Monetary Fund (IMF) programs, which we have broadly dubbed the “New Age of Fiscal Austerity.” Unlike in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the new wave of IMF programs is not based on cutting spending; in fact, spending on health and education will be preserved. Instead, fiscal consolidation is largely driven by raising revenue. A key element of this will be taxing the informal sector. Coupled with this is the challenge to formulate new exchange rate policies in an era of higher global interest rates. It is also worth highlighting that after the last wave of defaults across Africa in the mid-1990s, better fiscal discipline and more flexible exchange rate regimes ushered in a strong pickup in growth, eventually encapsulated in the “Africa Rising” story. We think that at the time the hype around this story was overplayed, but that does not mean that there were not many real elements to it that still have important implications about how Africa will grow and develop going forward, or which we think will be the key elements of a “New Growth Model” for Africa. For a “New Growth Model” to emerge, however, African governments, and the private sector are going to have to work together to take advantage of the continent’s favorable demographics, technological developments, and a changing world economy. At the same time, it is critical to avoid getting caught up in a new hype and forgetting the importance of developing foundational infrastructure. There is an argument that politics could yet undermine such a “New Growth Model” playing out. While we accept that politics can be a constraint on development, we suspect that if the story is to play out as we hope, more African governments will simply have to get serious about economic growth and development as their central political and policy concerns. Finally, it is important to bear in mind that development does require clear politics and policy, but also has an element of luck. Moreover, it is perhaps a much more gradual process than is often popularly perceived. Africa has changed vastly in the last 50 years and will continue to change. The challenge for policymakers, facing young and demanding populations, is to try and speed up the process. title1 Test

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Funding Water Infrastructure – The Muni Way

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The Challenge US-based Precision Medicine Group provides an integrated infrastructure that supports biopharmaceutical and life science companies as they develop and commercialize new products. Rapid organic growth and M&A activity meant it had different banks in 15+ markets across North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific. Managing multiple bank relationships and accounts was time consuming. Each of the company’s banks required different tokens to log in, and a variety of inconsistent formats and processes for KYC and other compliance requirements. With this fragmented banking structure, Precision Medicine’s cash visibility was limited, making it difficult to assess cash positions. Determining balances required local teams to pull data manually by logging into one of the multiple banking platforms and summarizing the data in an Excel file. Precision Medicine decided to consolidate international banking with a single global partner as part of an initiative to increase centralization. The company wanted consistent solutions and service levels, greater visibility and control of cash, and to free up local teams to focus on core activities rather than bank account management. The Solution Precision Medicine selected Citi Commercial Bank as its global banking partner based on Citi’s presence in nearly 100 countries and jurisdictions worldwide, which aligned with the company’s existing operations and strategic ambitions. Given its long healthcare industry experience and specific expertise in working with contract research organizations, Citi was well placed to help Precision Medicine navigate its centralization journey. Citi and Precision Medicine’s objective was to create a best-in-class global treasury function. To achieve this, Citi developed a scalable treasury roadmap to take the company to its desired future state in phases: Consolidate banking relationships worldwide to Citi Commercial Bank, rationalizing accounts where possible. Increase automation and improve liquidity management. A key part of Precision Medicine’s centralization strategy is the introduction of a new ERP system, which will have full host-to-host connectivity with Citi. The Result Citi opened all new accounts for Precision Medicine within their project timeline, including new entities that were added after the original project scope was set. Account openings used digital onboarding to ensure a consistent process across all jurisdictions, which significantly reduced the resources required to manage the process. Citi provided support and a single global contact to address Precision Medicine’s queries. Precision Medicine uses CitiDirect to manage its accounts, giving it visibility and control of cash globally via a single dashboard. The company enjoys the benefits of Citi Payment Insights, which provides payment status updates via a visual tracker. Precision Medicine also uses the SEPA Debtor Mandates module within CitiDirect, enabling it to self-manageits Euro Zone SEPA debtor mandates and prevent unapproved transactions. All this has freed up individuals at Precision Medicine entities worldwide to focus on their core roles, as well as improve risk management. With phase one now complete, Precision Medicine and Citi have embarked on phase two. The company has introduced its new ERP system, which is being integrated via host-to-host connectivity with Citi to improve control and reduce manual effort. As part of the ERP integration, Precision Medicine and Citi have developed an XML file to accommodate payment instructions for multiple countries, currencies, and payment types, which will be sent directly from the company’s ERP to Citi. Precision Medicine is also using CitiConnect File Manager to allow it to review batch payment files before processing. The company also intends to take advantage of its consolidated bank relationship with Citi and new functionality to move cash between entities more efficiently. For more information about how Citi Commercial Bank’s Healthcare Group can assist you and your team, please contact us below.

<h3><img src="/rcs/v1/media/citigpa/akpublic/storage/retrieveMediaFile/64d123de835d715b4dae2c64.png" alt="Author: Matt Marzicola &ndash; Senior Vice President, Healthcare &ndash; Citi Commercial Bank" /></h3>
<h3>The Challenge</h3>
<p>US-based Precision Medicine Group provides an integrated infrastructure that supports biopharmaceutical and life science companies as they develop and commercialize new products. Rapid organic growth and M&amp;A activity meant it had different banks in 15+ markets across North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific. Managing multiple bank relationships and accounts was time consuming. Each of the company&rsquo;s banks required different tokens to log in, and a variety of inconsistent formats and processes for KYC and other compliance requirements.</p>
<p>With this fragmented banking structure, Precision Medicine&rsquo;s cash visibility was limited, making it difficult to assess cash positions. Determining balances required local teams to pull data manually by logging into one of the multiple banking platforms and summarizing the data in an Excel file.</p>
<p>Precision Medicine decided to consolidate international banking with a single global partner as part of an initiative to increase centralization. The company wanted consistent solutions and service levels, greater visibility and control of cash, and to free up local teams to focus on core activities rather than bank account management.</p>
<h3>The Solution</h3>
<div>
<p>Precision Medicine selected Citi Commercial Bank as its global banking partner based on Citi&rsquo;s presence in nearly 100 countries and jurisdictions worldwide, which aligned with the company&rsquo;s existing operations and strategic ambitions. Given its long healthcare industry experience and specific expertise in working with contract research organizations, Citi was well placed to help Precision Medicine navigate its centralization journey.</p>
<p>Citi and Precision Medicine&rsquo;s objective was to create a best-in-class global treasury function. To achieve this, Citi developed a scalable treasury roadmap to take the company to its desired future state in phases:</p>
<ol>
<li>Consolidate banking relationships worldwide to Citi Commercial Bank, rationalizing accounts where possible.</li>
<li>Increase automation and improve liquidity management. A key part of Precision Medicine&rsquo;s centralization strategy is the introduction of a new ERP system, which will have full host-to-host connectivity with Citi.</li>
</ol>
<h3>The Result</h3>
<div>
<p>Citi opened all new accounts for Precision Medicine within their project timeline, including new entities that were added after the original project scope was set.</p>
<p>Account openings used digital onboarding to ensure a consistent process across all jurisdictions, which significantly reduced the resources required to manage the process. Citi provided support and a single global contact to address Precision Medicine&rsquo;s queries.</p>
<p>Precision Medicine uses CitiDirect to manage its accounts, giving it visibility and control of cash globally via a single dashboard. The company enjoys the benefits of Citi Payment Insights, which provides payment status updates via a visual tracker. Precision Medicine also uses the SEPA Debtor Mandates module within CitiDirect, enabling it to self-manageits Euro Zone SEPA debtor mandates and prevent unapproved transactions. All this has freed up individuals at Precision Medicine entities worldwide to focus on their core roles, as well as improve risk management.</p>
<p>With phase one now complete, Precision Medicine and Citi have embarked on phase two. The company has introduced its new ERP system, which is being integrated via host-to-host connectivity with Citi to improve control and reduce manual effort. As part of the ERP integration, Precision Medicine and Citi have developed an XML file to accommodate payment instructions for multiple countries, currencies, and payment types, which will be sent directly from the company&rsquo;s ERP to Citi. Precision Medicine is also using CitiConnect File Manager to allow it to review batch payment files before processing. The company also intends to take advantage of its consolidated bank relationship with Citi and new functionality to move cash between entities more efficiently.</p>
<p>For more information about how Citi Commercial Bank&rsquo;s Healthcare Group can assist you and your team, please contact us below.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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Precision Medicine decided to consolidate international banking with a single global partner as part of an initiative to increase centralization.

Global Banking Relationship Delivers Visibility, Control and Efficiency

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