Two Decades @ Citi

On my 20th work anniversary with Citi… Here’s my warmest #Respect and #Gratitude note to #Citi?

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My Dear 花旗 :

It’s been 3 decades of my banking career, where you been my professional guardian for last?2 decades! Respectful gratitude to you for making me so evolved and resilient banker thus far??

I recall my maiden day in April 2004 when you accepted?me as family member of #Citi?to start our maiden branch banking footprint in New Mumbai. You took best out me when we ‘broke-even’ the branch (Citi’s term to get new branch in profit making) in just 3rd operating month.

To a Banker like me coming from Indian banking sector, you exhibited how to differentiate 'Class Banking over Mass Banking'. You then proved to be the leader in Indian banking sector as been the trendsetter with Best in Class innovative market foresights.

I was lucky to be guided & mentored by our then Consumer banking leaders Uday Sareen & Prathit Bhobe . It is nostalgic to recall our Insurance & Wealth management business strategy sessions with Rishi Piparaiya Vidur Varma and later with Virendra Somwanshi . That's the phase when you taught me to HAVE an ATTITUDE (rightful) by bringing in true business sense in my professional DNA and made me so proud to flaunt our #CitiBrand. ?

Remember those challenging days in our Indian Retail banking business when?you gave us the visionary Business leaders like Anand Selva & Sameer kaul who triggered our potential to drive our Consumer & Commercial banking business to it's best of highs. Through then-newly launched Sales & Distribution channel you trained me under the leadership of Ashish Mehrotra & Puneet Sanwalka what aggressive but client centric sales is and how to make our CRM consistently powerful.?

You then put me through the best of Citi’s talent to learn innovative ATL & BTL marketing/ branding initiatives like ‘Perceptual Scale’ (Citi’s then branding drive for consumer business) and making it huge success for onboarding of New To Bank business. You gave us many opportunities to learn from our mistakes and tested our nerves while making us to develop newer ‘Strategic Alliances’ for acquiring Affluent Business. And later…

Citi, Thank YOU for allowing me to then TAKE a RISK to move to other side of our business - The Risk & Controls world. It’s been 11yrs as you gave me 360* holistic experience of Citi's Risk controls and Governance oversight domain. You trained me through various business lines at our ever dynamic Institutional Banking. You gave me the sandbox to experiment/ assess newer initiatives for Supplier Risk oversight?and functional controls. You encouraged and gave me opportunities to visit our diverse CSC network across global geographies like Penang-Budapest-Poland-Tampa-Costa Rica-Bogota to understand our UNITY in DIVERSITY making me much comprehensive Banker and Risk Leader now.

And when there were tougher times, be it US Great recession in 2008 or our recent progressive ReOrg, you made us realize again...How you take care of our Citi families and their well being. You gave me warmest welcome during my maiden visit to our Global CEO office at 388 Greenwich Street NYC and it made me realize How you value employee' passion for our franchise. Back in India, I still recall, our then HR leader Navin Upadhyaya used to exhibit similar rigor in his passion for brand Citi with his fond collection of Citi goodies?which was quite infectious to most of us ??

Dear Citi, Be it sale of CGSL and then the birth of CSIL or our recent sale of Retail consumer business in India,? you always demonstrated at 花旗 "The Change is Consistent”?

You groomed us to be Resilient and trained us to be strong & sustainable through any type of Disruptions.?

In my this journey of Citi’ GCC… You made me much aware Citizen to ‘Giving Back to community' with the opportunities to lead our CSR & Green lead ESG initiatives along with our leaders Ganesh Baliga Shahin Dastur .

I was honored and remained lucky to work with/ be mentored/ be guided by our leaders Balaji Nuthalapadi Milind Nerurkar Shirish Damle Sanjeev Behl Ajay Shah Paul Pitre and having made best of?my leader friends Amin Kasmani Pradeep Sekar Sukumar Pawaskar Rajib Mukherjee Ibotombi Longjam, Venkataramana kumaraswamy Sharon Higgins Sharon Saldanha . I am indebted to my all Citi colleagues and the incredible team members across the regions to be part of this journey, making it rewarding every day as learning from them all is everlasting and I look forward to their continued partnership ??

Esteban Palza Manuel Tunarosa Rafael Avila Jay Jhala NEHA P Kamruddin Chougale Mythili Mahadevan Saurabh Ahuja Sonalee Suchismita Ramya Narayan Mittal Shah Kunal Oza CA Aditya Agarwal Ashis Dey venkatesan krishnamoorthy Santanu Sen Ashutosh Kamat Gaurav Prakash Shrikant Deshpande Rajarshi Chakraborty Rakesh Rajan Cheryl Patel

So Dear Citi, While I feel just Teen at my 20th, You’ve truly transformed?me as seasoned banker at my 30th year of Banking career. My sincere #gratitude for walking my path along and remained rock solid support through last 20 yrs, as I continue to be your proud Citibanker ??

Here’s to many more years of #Citiprogress. God Bless Citi and Citi family !

Respectfully?

Your Proud Citi Family member @20

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Dear Marisa Fernandes-Gomes PMP / Danica Fernandes and team:

A Big?SHUKRIYA for hosting such a grand event and inheriting Citi’s true legacy of acknowledging?Talent and Tenor. My Gratitude ??

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