TEL AVIV, Israel — Shalom, Citigroup. The megabank has turned to the tiny Middle Eastern nation as its new new hotspot for banking innovation. The bank’s chief innovation officer, Debbie Hopkins, did a turn in Israel recently to emphasize the New York-based bank’s new focus there. In remarks at the recent MIXiii hi-tech conference here, Hopkins said that Citi Ventures, the bank’s VC arm, will newly analyze Israeli fintech companies for investment. Until now, Citi has been solely focused on US investments. Citi has an accelerator in Tel Aviv, aptly named the Citi Accelerator, and it had five companies in its first class. Its second class, coming this summer, will likely have more startups, ranging from payment companies to security and risk analytics. Citi Labs, another of the bank’s ventures, is also located in Tel Aviv, and will be recruiting additional staffers to work on in-house projects. In addition to the units dedicated to investment and startups, Hopkins highlighted Citi’s DesignWorks venture, which builds and designs holistic, end-to-end customer experiences for the “bank of the future,” and specifically for internal Citi implementation. Citi Ventures also works closely on investments and initiatives with Andreessen Horowitz Venture Capital, Hopkins said. Hopkins believes […]
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