Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has announced an enhanced agreement with Citi as its international cash management bank partner.

The new mandate, covering Etihad Airways' worldwide operations outside the GCC, will enable the airline to leverage Citi’s substantial investment in financial technology to further develop its cash management operations and help reduce costs.

Etihad Airways will now be able to utilise Citi’s Liquidity Management solution to achieve substantial cash optimisation and competitive market rates through automated treasury tools, resulting in significant transaction cost savings. 

Citi's cash management solution rationalises account opening processes and moves the Abu Dhabi-based carrier to a fully automated and centralised account administration, and automated account payable and account receivable management tools to achieve better control and minimise transactional risks.

The enhanced partnership comes a year after the signing of an innovative Supply Chain Finance (SCF) agreement between Etihad Airways and Citi enabling the airline to unlock liquidity and pay its suppliers almost immediately through funding provided by the bank.

James Rigney, Etihad Airways Chief Financial Officer, said: “We are delighted to have entered into this agreement with Citi which is designed to drive more cost benefits for our business on a global level. As Etihad Airways continues to grow, this partnership will help bring about greater economies of scale, increased operational efficiency, enhanced financial procedures and immediate solutions to local needs across our worldwide operations.”

Emre Karter, Managing Director and Regional Head – Treasury & Trade Solutions (Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan & Turkey), said: “At Citi, we value our strategic alliance with Etihad Airways which is one of the world’s fastest growing airlines, and we're proud to provide global cash management services that meet the exact needs of the carrier.  This is demonstrative of our ability to offer clients worldwide, local and regional solutions with global service standards.”

Citi has been present in the Middle East and North Africa since 1955, and offers full scale corporate and investment banking services in Egypt, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Pakistan and Iraq. Citi's institutional capabilities in the region include Treasury & Trade Solutions, Corporate & Investment Banking, Capital Markets Origination, Global Markets and Islamic Banking.

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