[By NBC-1TV H. J Yook]Citi has won the “Client Clearing Provider of the Year” award from Asia Risk magazine, a financial risk management publication focused on economic and regulatory risk capital in Asia Pacific.

“The award is great recognition for Citi’s clearing platform and reinforces our commitment to providing clients in Asia Pacific with comprehensive, efficient and seamless execution,” said Jerome Kemp, Global Head of Futures and OTC Clearing.

Describing Citi’s win, the editors of the magazine pointed to the Bank’s ability to capitalize on regulatory changes and its ability to offer seamless connectivity across the globe.

“One bank that has moved to capitalize on this regulatory change is Citi, which has been quick to sign up regional banks in Asia to its client clearing platform,” the magazine said.

It added: “Citi is both agnostic and comprehensive in regard to connectivity and is currently live with all viable OTC clearing houses in the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific.”

It pointed to Citi’s ability to translate approximately 90% of all requests for proposal (RFPs) into clearing mandates in Asia Pacific, where the Bank has client service representatives in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Sydney and Singapore supporting the clearing business. To date, Citi has cleared over US$1 trillion globally in OTC derivatives in 2012, with roughly 10% of that coming from Asia Pacific.

Citi’s ability to improve transparency in the safeguarding of client funds was another factor, the magazine said, pointing to its Citi Client Money Segregation report, which clients could easily access.

"Citi‘s client money transparency initiative gives daily insight into the amount of client collateral Citi is holding, the custodial locations and the depository institutions we use to place our clients’ funds,” said Conor Cunningham, Asia Pacific Head of Futures and OTC Clearing “We take our responsibility in protecting our clients' assets extremely seriously and believe that clients have a right to this level of disclosure.”