Former Citibank personal banking customers migrate to Colpatria

As of Friday, November 1, former Citibank consumer and SME customers will be migrated to the technology and transactional platform of Scotiabank Colpatria, an entity that in January 2018 kept these two businesses of the US entity in Colombia.

Until now, and as part of the agreement between the two entities, these clients continued to use Citibank’s platforms for their transactions, while in Scotiabank Colpatria the necessary adjustments were made to incorporate them into their portfolio that will add a total of about 4 million customers.

“From November 1, all payments and transfers must be directed as a bank to Scotiabank Colpatria or Colpatria, the Citibank name and code will no longer be used,” said Colpatria directives, now controlled by the Canadian bank Scotiabank.

Consequently, they indicated that former Citibank customers may experience some intermittency in the provision of some services during this weekend, which includes the holiday of Monday, November 4.

As part of its commitment to provide good service and avoid inconvenience to its new clients, the directives have been reporting on the migration to the bank’s platforms for several days. However, they recommended that the following be taken into account:

  1. As of November 5, those customers who wish to make their payments through the PSE (Secure Online Payments) button, must select the Scotiabank Colpatria option to carry out the transaction. successful way. In some financial institutions and / or businesses, it is also possible to find it under the name of Colpatria.
  2. Former Citibank consumer and SME customers must register with the new ‘Digital Banking’ application that has been made available to them. Colpatria customers will keep their username and password.
  3. Those who have invoice payments scheduled between November 1 and 4 must make them no later than October 31. Beginning November 5, they must reschedule public and private payments at www.scotiabankcolpatria.com.
  4. Credit cards will work normally in commercial establishments, ATMs and other networks and the plastic is maintained.l. But those who change their card for loss or deterioration will receive a new Scotiabank Colpatria brand. All plastics will be renewed at no cost before June 2020.
  5. From November 1 to November 4, only during that weekend, these customers could have some limitation in their debit card transactions due to possible intermittences, for This is important for customers to plan their financial operations in advance.
  6. On Friday, November 1, between 3:00 am and 9:00 am, your debit card will be disabled to make payments at commercial establishments, while withdrawals at ATMs, depository and multifunctional machines (payments, cosignation and withdrawals), will be limited from Thursday, October 31 at 9:00 pm until Friday, November 1 at 9:00 am

Integration of part of Citi with Colpatria will take about two years

Since the second half of 2017, at the meetings of senior executives of the Canadian multinational Scotiabank, the operation that was finally announced on Wednesday had been cooking: the acquisition of consumer banking and small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) that Citibank has in Colombia, an operation that Canadians will do through its subsidiary in the country, Multibanca Colpatria.

With this acquisition, which is still subject to the approval of the Financial Superintendence, Colpatria, which already had a 16 percent stake in the credit card market alone (2.31 million plastics), will control about 19 percent, considering that it will host about 500,000 customers who were under the umbrella of formal MyCCPay official Site.

Until last November, these Citi card customers billed just over 604.4 billion pesos.

Data from the Financial Superintendency, as of October 2017, indicate that, in practice, Colpatria-Scotiabank acquires a portfolio close to 4.3 billion pesos, which is what Citibank has placed in consumer loans and MSMEs .
“For us it is a great opportunity. With this business, Scotiabank shows the confidence it has in the country and the implementation of its strategy to have a stronger presence in the countries of the Pacific Alliance: Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Peru, ”he said. Santiago Perdomo Maldonado, outgoing president of Colpatria.
The director also stressed that “the premium segment of the Citi significantly complements the growth that brings the Bank Colpatria.”

On the amount of the transaction, Perdomo said the figure is still confidential. “We can’t reveal it.” This, taking into account that at least four months are required for the authorization of the Superfinancial and the closing of the business between both entities.

Once these legal procedures have been completed, according to Perdomo, there is a process that would take about two years to unify the operational and technological platform that will serve the clients of the two operations from a single channel.

Two experiences come together

For his part, Jaime Alberto Upegui, incoming president of Colpatria, indicated that Citi customers will not be exposed to any trauma in the service.
“We intend to maintain the services that have been operating as they have been having them in the Citi. Both banks will be enriched with this operation that has just been announced, ”he said.

It should be noted that the absorption of the two business lines of Citibank by Colpatria allows the meeting of two broad experiences within the Colombian banking system.

Citibank operations in Colombia began in 1916, the year in which they opened their first branch. Today they have 47 offices and 424 self-service MyCCPay official Site points in the country.

On the side of Colpatria,It is an entity of more than 50 years that since 2011 signed a long-term strategic alliance with the multinational Scotiabank, one of the main financial institutions in North America and the most international bank in Canada.

“In 2012, Scotiabank acquired the majority stake, 51 percent, of Colpatria Bank. It also controls the same participation of the AFP Colfondos.

Colpatria, which has a presence in 38 cities, in which it operates with a network of 175 offices and more than 370 ATMs, is one of the leaders in the credit card segment, being the largest issuer of co-branded plastics.

Employee Fusion

On the side of human talent, as confirmed by the Scotiabank directives, the agreement announced on Wednesday also includes the incorporation of 2,700 employees of Citibank Colombia to Banco Colpatria.

“Something that we consider important in this transaction is to acquire knowledge, the management of the premium segments that Citi has. We believe that there is an important talent within the bank, which, integrated with Colpatria, will involve having a very high-performance team to better serve Colombia’s financial clients, ”said Upegui.

The president of Citi in the country, Álvaro Jaramillo, also responsible for the operation in the North Latin America region, showed his enthusiasm for the negotiation. “We believe that this transaction with Scotiabank and Banco Colpatriait will be beneficial for our customers in the consumer sector, employees and shareholders ”.
The Citi is recognized for applying a model of consumer banking and corporate banking that work together.