Citibank e-Business

• P u r c h a s e & T r a v e l C a r d s • E l e c t r o n i c A c c o u n t s •

The April 2000 Corporate Client Advisory Council

(CCAC) kick-off meeting marked a new wave of

innovation and partnering between Citibank

and its customers. With a follow-up global web forum

on Oct. 31, the company began fulfilling its pledge to

focus on development that addresses customers’

most pressing needs.The CCAC is a partnership between Citibank and

its customers that provides a platform for communi-cation and the resolution of issues of mutual interest. It is an instrument of change, helping Citibank todevelop products that address clients’ specific needs.

“The Council is essential in the development offuture Citibank products, and it is a wonderful way toshow clients what we’re working on, get feedbackand hear their concerns. Face-to-face discussions,webcasts and surveys will continue to be very effec-tive forums in which clients can share experiences

© 2000 by Citibank N.A. All rights reserved. Corporate Commerce News is published by Enterprise Commerce, a business unit of Citibank N.A. and is intended for useby the clients of its card issuing Affiliates. This publication may not be reprinted without the express written consent of Citibank N.A. Citibank (South Dakota) N.A.issues corporate cards in the U.S. Citibank Canada issues corporate cards in Canada. VISA is a registered trademark of VISA International. MasterCard is a registeredtrademark of MasterCard International Incorporated.

Client Advisory Council Begins Work

CitiManagersm Portal Debuts

W I N T E R 2 0 0 0 D E C E M B E R

Mexico Implementation

Unilever Electronic Accounts

Visa Commercial Card

MasterCard Reports on State Taxes

Citibank One Card

I N T H I S I S S U E

Enterprise Commerce is pleased to

announce the debut of the CitiManagerSM

Internet portal, currently in its first release.

CitiManager is the first comprehensive web

site for all of Enterprise Commerce’s products

and services. The site was piloted within Enterprise

Commerce and with several clients fromboth the corporate and federal govern-ment sectors. Early users have respondedenthusiastically, noting that the site is easy to use, has a pleasing design and providesvaluable and relevant content. Clients alsowill be able to use CitiManager to accessthe program management tools thatCitibank provides to their organizations.

Plans are under way to add new featuresand functionality to the site. The secondrelease, “CitiManager 2.0,” will go live duringthe first quarter of 2001. The site represents a collaboration between the EnterpriseCommerce Strategic Initiatives & Marketing

continued on page 8

Citibank’s Jim Holmes (R) and MarkHoffman (L); Baker Hughes’ Mike Hostler;and Exults’ Amy Besom and Carol Bishopdiscuss new services and programs at theAnnual Client Conference.

Citibank e-Business

continued on page 8

page 2

Mexico Implementation Proves Successful

Citibank Mexico’s corporateproduct has grown consistentlyin the last seven years and itsclient base includes 490 of the

top customers in almost every industryincluding automobile and tire man-ufacturers, chemical laboratoriesand wine/spirits, amongmany others.

The corporateproduct reflectslocal tax regula-tions and pro-vides invoicesin local cur-rency, whichmakes it anefficient,cost-effective offering.Citibank Mexico developedseveral value-added, customer-focused services such as customizedVAT consolidation and reports and costcenter or department invoicing.

Citibank’s Systems Infrastructure iscompatible and compliant with most of

the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)applications and modules. SAP account-ing modules are completely compatiblewith Citibank’s Electronic Data

Interchange (EDI) standards.Citibank Mexico offers

the best applied technologyand services as well as

personnel ready to helpcustomers become

more competitiveand achieve their

corporate goals.Its technical per-sonnel are avail-able to addressprogrammingneeds for reports,data mining, etc.

Citibank Mexico willoffer web-based applications

such as CitiManager (see storypage1) for e-commerce merchantaccounts and CitiExpert, which offersend users total control and features auser-friendly front end. ■

The Unilever electronic account pilot program went live in September, rolling out

approximately 250 individual electronic procurement accounts within the company.

Citibank’s Enterprise Commerce technical solutions staff developed a program’s

database, which allows end-to-end reconcilement.

Electronic accounts enable companies to take full advantage of on-line pur-

chasing opportunities and trade exchanges. They retain these popular card

processing features: security, control, ease of end-to-end processing and

reconcilement, settlement and reporting.

Unilever’s pilot will continue through year-end with additional phases of roll-out

targeted for 2001. Other pilots include GM, which is using Commerce One software,

and Dana Corporation, which is using Ariba.

UN I L E V E R EL E C T R O N I C AC C O U N T S GO L I V E

page 3

C O R P O R A T E C O M M E R C E N E W S

Citibank’s paramount objectiveis to deliver financial solutionsthat meet customers’ require-ments through the end-to-end

quality of our products and services. Tothis end, the bank developed a qualitymonitoring program that improves customer satisfaction by reducing thedefects and cycle time for all of our key processes.

Citibank strives to be recognized bycustomers worldwide as a team of pro-fessionals who create and deliver thebest financial solutions, and who use toolsand surveys to achieve that goal.

ToolsCitibank’s primary tool is an intensive, six-week training program during which allCorporate Card Unit members learnabout Citibank products, policies, andprocedures as well as phone skills.Individuals receive additional training on the specifics of indi-vidual jobs and mayreceive up to 10 weeksof training, with mentor-ing and coachingoccurring after thetraining.

Other tools includemanuals documentingtypes of processes and problems andinstructions for fulfillingcustomer requests; theTSYS system, which dis-plays customer recordsand analyzes customerinformation in prepara-tion for inquiries; a CallMonitoring System; and daily MIS reportsand quality sampling.

SurveysSince 1999, Citibank has conducted on-going, random Cardholder Surveys. Fourthousand surveys are mailed per quarter

with a 20% response rate. Throughout1998, Citibank maintained an OverallSatisfaction rating of 93%, which isapproximately 5% better than the aver-

age for all other surveysacross the Business. Year to date, the OverallSatisfaction rating is at an unprecedented 95%.

In addition, Citibankconducts a ProgramAdministrator Survey every18 months. The last itera-tion of this survey reportedan Overall Satisfaction rateof 88%. Results are ana-lyzed on many levelsthroughout the organiza-tion, as well as at the clientlevel. The results of the surveys and their analysisare used to improve prod-

ucts, processes, and the service Citibankprovides its customers. ■

Citibank Service Begins With Quality

“We strive

to be recognized

by customers worldwide

as a team of

professionals who

create and deliver

the best financial

solutions.”

New employees in the Corporate Card Telephones class learn about Citibank products and processes.

IN T R O D U C I N G…

Kathleen B. LaneIn her new role as Vice President, Director, Client Development, Kathleen Lane (formerly

Kathleen Bentley) oversees the Citibank team responsible for the implementation, growth

and ongoing support of Citibank’s corporate customers. She also chairs the Client

Advisory Council.

Kathleen joined Citibank in early 1998 as a business development manager for

Government Card Services. She handled relationship management and new product sales

for the General Services Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs, the largest

civilian government agency. In December 1999, Kathleen developed and launched a new

market segment of mid-sized companies who were potential users

of Citibank’s corporate credit card.

Kathleen has been in the commercial credit card field for the

past seven years with Citibank, GE Capital and Citicorp Diners

Club. She has also worked in travel industry sales and account

management with Carlson Travel Network, Northwest Airlines and

Sheraton Hotels. She holds a B.A. in Communications and

Sociology from the University of California at Santa Barbara. She

and her husband, Mike, live in Salem, MA, where they enjoy

sailing, skiing, mountain biking and cooking.

page 4

M ore businesses are accepting VisaCommercial Card products thanever before, according to Visa. The

company tracks Commercial Card accept-ance through its Merchant Profile Databaseservice and recently reached a milestone of

over 3.2 million U.S. merchantshaving accepted a Visa-branded Commercial Card.

“This milestone shows thatcompanies are leveraging theirCommercial Card programs togain cost efficiencies, andmerchants are responding.Merchants are increasinglyaware that commercial cards

are the preferred method of payment formany companies. As a result, acceptanceand the delivery of enhanced data aregrowing,” said Jill Goebel, Director,Commercial Card Products, Visa USA.

Visa’s Merchant Profile Database is a

comprehensive list of U.S. merchants thathave accepted the Visa Purchasing Card orVisa Corporate Card products. Visa supple-ments information received from merchantsand the Acquiring Bank with data from out-side sources. This ensures the completenessand integrity of the data.

On request, Visa uses the database toprovide quarterly CDs containing data necessary for 1099 and 1057 reporting.Companies can use this information to filegovernment tax reports.

“Visa expends considerable time andresources to ensure the quality of the infor-mation in the database. This confidence inthe data enables us to provide our membersand our members’ clients with the data neces-sary for government reporting,” Goebel said.

“This is the first of many ways we willleverage the Merchant Profile Databaseto benefit our members and their clients,”she said. ■

More Businesses Accept Commercial CardPayments, Visa Reports

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C O R P O R A T E C O M M E R C E N E W S

Firms Are FindingEffective SolutionsWith State Tax

MasterCard reports companies withpurchasing card programs arefinding simple, yet effective ways

to ensure proper payment and accounta-bility to state taxing authorities, according toa recent study conducted for MasterCard.

The study, conducted by Gunn Partners,Inc., addressed the question of state salestaxes and purchasing cards.

The study found that payment of statesales tax is seldom an issue because of inno-vative discussions with state auditors andintegration with companies’ cultures. Theanalysis offered these conclusions:• Simple solutions to the tax issues exist and

neither place an undue burden on thecardholder nor rely completely on Level IIor III data.

• Overpayments are insignificant comparedto the savings achieved through the use ofpurchasing cards.

• Direct-pay programs can be an effectivemeans of eliminating tax issues if such pro-grams are permitted.

• Companies implementing a purchasingcard program must understandboth the sales and usetax issues anddevise an inte-grated plan tominimize the risk ofassessments.

• Discussing purchasingcard programs before-hand is a best practice:

• Predictive model• Relative size of purchas-

ing card expenditures.Second, software programs

are available that compare thelocation of the cardholder with the locationof the merchant and calculate the appro-priate sales taxes.

These programs can also be modifiedto help reduce the possibility of overpay-ment. They are quite straightforward and,

if anything, may result in a nominaloverpayment of sales taxes.

In some cases, these overpay-ments are repaid by the state

or used to offset other assess-ments. The net effect, how-

ever, is that the risk ofassessments on purchas-

ing card transactions ishighly unlikely.All of the companies

analyzed used simple approachesto the sales tax issue with insignificant

issues being raised by the states that audited their transactions. In fact, stateauditors raised proportionately fewer concerns with the sales tax issue than withother issues associated with purchasingcard transactions. ■

HOT OFF THE PRESS

• Citibank is supporting a pilot

program with payments for the

GM Trade Exchange. The Trade

Exchange is powered by

Commerce One, IBM’s e-pro-

curement system, and is used

for purchasing via the Internet.

• Citibank corporate cards soon

will be available in Spain &

Belgium. Test cards will be

launched by the end of the

fourth quarter. Details will be

reported in the next issue of

this newsletter.

A s more companies move to theInternet as a means of managingcorporate card accounts, the

secure electronic transmission of sensitiveemployee or business information hasbecome critical.

To ensure the highest level of securityavailable for commercial use, Citicorp

makes Entrust encryptionsoftware available toclients sharing accountinformation with banksover the Internet.

Account applicationsfor prospective card-holders include sensitiveinformation such asaddresses, SocialSecurity numbers andcredit limits. In the past,such applications weremaintained on paperand were faxed ormailed. Today, however,

an increasing number of companies useelectronic mail and the Internet to reducepaper and make account managementmore efficient.

“With the encryption software we offer,we provide clients the most secure meanspossible to transmit important and sensitivecorporate card account information,”said Lonny Boehrns Jr., Citibank SeniorSystems Analyst.

The encryption software is produced byEntrust Technologies Inc., a company thathelps e-businesses send and receive secureelectronic transactions. Entrust specializes inhelping firms send and receive data overadvanced networks including the Internet,extranets and intranets.

The encryption software works much likea scrambler for secure telephone conversa-tions. An account manager attaches to an e-mail message the word processing or data-base document to be transmitted. A key filecreated by the manager acts as an electron-ic lock to encode the information. ■

In an effort to identify the ways Citibank

customers optimize and improve the use

of their programs, Citibank is sponsoring

a Best Practices Awards Program. Submit

examples of best practices that have

been effective in your department. If

your idea is published, you will be

awarded your choice of a Palm™ Pilot

or DVD Player.

Your best practices may be related

to how you expanded your program

internally or eased workflow. Perhaps

you found a better way to communi-

cate? In other words, how are you

facilitating a successful program?

Semi-finalists will be announced

in the next issue, and the winner will

be announced at the annual confer-

ence in Las Vegas. To enter, write up

a brief description of your best prac-

tice, and send it to Kathleen Lane

(kathleen.b.lane@citicorp.com) or Matt

Frohling (matthew.frohling@citicorp.com).

BE S T PR A C T I C E SAWA R D S PR O G R A MNO W UN D E RWAY!

Encryption Secures Account DataTransmission

page 6

Conference 2001: A Sure BetThe 2001 conference will be held

next spring in Las Vegas, NV. Timing

is early May, not April as previously

announced. Look for time and

place details in upcoming

newsletters and mailings.

page 7

C O R P O R A T E C O M M E R C E N E W S

The advantages of the Citibank One Cardcan be summed up in two words: flexible

and simple. The One Card is flexible because a pro-

gram can be implemented in stages and ata comfortable, manageable pace. It is simple because it combines the functionalityof three types of traditional corporate cards— travel and entertainment (T&E), purchasing,and fleet — into one program. One Cardmeans one statement and one paymentwithout the loss of data reporting or the con-trols of traditional corporate cards.

“Some companies may hesitate to use aone-card program because they mistakenlyassume they will lose some data reportingcapabilities,” said Scott Gottlieb, CitibankVice President of Product Management forthe Citibank One Card. “But companies canincrementally convert to the One Card ofjust their T&E, purchasing or fleet programs orany combination of these programs — tosee how a One Card program works andmake sure it integrates with their existingaccounting systems,” he said.

The Citibank One Card allows corporatemanagers to use extensive point-of-saleauthorization controls to define restrictions.Clients can centralize billing for the purchas-ing, fleet and T&E card functions yet still provide individual memo billing statementsfor T&E expense reconciliation.

The One Card soon will provide addi-tional data reporting capabilities. For exam-ple, when used to make fuel purchases, thecard soon will be able to capture a car’svehicle identification number and mileageat the service station pump. This information,along with other data, such as the amountof the purchase and quantity of fuel, will bedelivered directly to the fleet manager formore detailed reporting.

One Card allows clients to receive item-ized reporting of travel expenses such as roomcharges and taxes, telephone, restaurantand room service, bar and mini-bar, giftshop, laundry and dry cleaning.

Citibank has made the One Card moreversatile by adding ATM access for quickcash. Later this year, the card will add acalling card feature thatallows cardholders to billlong-distance calls to thecard with itemized chargesappearing on the monthlystatements.

The Citibank One Cardprovides several additionalfront-end administrativebenefits. Companies thatmanage a single-card pro-gram enjoy reduced over-head, require fewerapprovals and have fewerforms to manage.Managing the program requires less time and expense, and there is a single point ofcontact for customer service.

At the back end, companies receive asingle data stream accessible to many end-points as well as information that can be inte-grated into general ledgers. This saves time be-cause only One Card’s program data feed isreceived. There are fewer invoices to pay, too.

With the One Card, companies enjoy anintegrated platform that automaticallyassigns expenses to accounts based onmerchant category codes. Companies alsoreceive improved Level II and Level III infor-mation and tracking, maximized refundsand reduced administrative expenses.Transferring existing corporate card programsto the One Card is quick and easy. ■

One Card, Many Benefits

Conference 2000:Smooth SailingAttendees of Citibank’s Corporate

Conference last April networked

during the sailing event.

one card

page 8

and Product Management teams in additionto Citibank colleagues in several e-Businesstechnology groups.

CitiManager provides general informa-tion to all site visitors. Additional informationis provided in password-protected, client-only areas. The main site address iswww.citimanager.com. Clients who wish toreach the “client-only” area can do so bycontacting their Client DevelopmentManager to obtain a user ID and password.After viewing the site, clients may providesuggestions or feedback to their ClientDevelopment Manager. ■

CitiManager sm

continued from page 1

and ideas,” said Kathleen B. Lane, VicePresident, Director, Client Development andCCAC Chair.

The CCAC currently has 28 members,and membership will rotate annually to pro-vide a comprehensive representation ofCitibank clients. One of the CCAC’s firstprojects was a client survey. As a direct

result of the responses, Citibank will focusupcoming presentations on global initiatives,technology and best practices.

“We will continue to learn from ourclients’ perspectives on our products andservice. We will also use an annual assess-ment to determine how we can improve.We aren’t afraid to look at ourselves objec-tively, and we greatly appreciate clients’

input on how we can better serve them,”said Gina DePina, Assistant Vice President,Strategic Initiative and Marketing and CCACProgram Manager.

CCAC Web Conference to Focuson Global InitiativesThe webcast global conference on Oct. 31presented Citibank’s new global MIS focus incountries where the card is already in use.Citibank outlined its program to contract withlocal service providers to provide consistent,value-added services like tax-compliant solutions using CitiExpert sm. The presentationaddressed the myriad details involved inlaunching a global program.

Presenter William Keliehor, GlobalExpansion Director, outlined Citibank’s plansto add eight European countries to the eightthe bank already works with, a second LatinAmerican country, and six Asian countries by first quarter 2002. He also described thecompany’s mid-2001 goal, which is to haveGlobal CitiExpert ready to offer single-currency rollup and cardholder manage-ment online.

If you are interested in reviewing thepresentation for highlights of the meeting, please contact your ClientDevelopment Manager. ■

“The Client Advisory Council is a partnership between Citibank and our

valued clients. By discussing topics of mutual interest and needs, we

will establish and maintain two-way communication that enables us to

deal with issues and identify new opportunities. Together, we will share

a commitment to the development of superior products, the delivery of

best-in-class service, and the achievement of technical innovation.”

Corporate Client Advisory Council

MI S S I O N STAT E M E N T

Client Advisory Councilcontinued from page 1

What would you like to read

about in upcoming issues of this

newsletter? Please call Maryann

Sprow at (718) 248-3440 with your

ideas, or send them to her at

Maryann.Sprow@citicorp.com.

Citibank looks forward to hearing

from you.

WH AT AR E YO ULO O K I N G FO R?