Citi’s Partnership with UNDP Strengthens across Asia

HONG KONG,
CHINA -�Media OutReach - 6 October 2020 - Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) - Citi’s partnership with the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) in Asia Pacific has strengthened further in 2020.
UNDP, which works to eradicate poverty, partnered with Citi to raise important
funds over the course of the year in the fight against COVID-19.

 

Citi’s support is being utilized for the most vulnerable and
marginalized communities across the region including families below the poverty
line, women at risk and migrant workers.

 

It is also being used to provide socio-economic recovery and
livelihood support, including food rations, medical supplies and personal
protection equipment, to those most impacted from COVID-19, due to loss of
livelihood and inaccessibility to healthcare and essential needs. Projects
across the region are underway, which includes providing close to 9,000
vulnerable women living in rural poverty with food baskets and health and
sanitation kits in Bangladesh and providing skills, training and support for female
entrepreneurs and women working in the heavily-impacted tourism industry to
find alternative means of livelihood in Sri Lanka.

 

In Asia Pacific, Citi committed US$1 million of trading revenue to
UNDP through an employee-led initiative by several Markets and Securities
Services businesses including Regional Cash Equities, Rates & Currencies,
and Corporate Sales & Solutions.

 

The bank also donated US$500,000 as part of the Double the Good
employee donation campaign, where for every $1 donated by a Citi employee in
support of COVID-19 relief, Citi donated $1 to UNDP as the selected
organization for the region.

 

“Our partnership with UNDP has provided important support to
communities across Asia Pacific. I am proud that thousands of Citi colleagues
have joined in this partnership, making a real difference to people in need
during a challenging time. We look forward to our continued collaboration with
UNDP,” said Peter Babej, Citi Asia Pacific CEO.

 

“A pandemic of this magnitude requires governments, UNDP, and the
private sector to come together to help communities on urgent health needs,
multi-sectoral crisis management and a socio-economic response,” said Kanni
Wignaraja, UN Assistant Secretary-General, and Regional Director for UNDP in
Asia and the Pacific. “The commitment from Citi and its employees is timely and
much appreciated as it allows UNDP to immediately reach out to people most
affected by COVID-19. If we are to emerge from this crisis stronger and more
resilient, we need strong partners like Citi to be part of #NextGenUNDP, to
help countries make sustainability-driven choices to underpin recovery and
progress.”

 

The work with UNDP builds on the successful Youth Co:Lab programme
which is part of the bank’s global Pathways to Progress initiative. Co-created
by UNDP and the Citi Foundation, Youth Co:Lab is the largest youth social entrepreneurship movement
in Asia Pacific. Since its inception it has been positioning young people front
and center to solve the region’s most pressing challenges and building up an
ecosystem to connect them with incubators, accelerators and investors to turn
solutions into viable business models.

In response to COVID-19, young social entrepreneurs in Youth
Co:Lab’s network are repurposing their operations, skills, and creativity to
help their communities respond to the pandemic.

 

In the Philippines, Life Cycles paired up hospitals, grocery
stores, drugstores, and local government units with generous bicycle donors to
ensure frontline staff and essential workers could get to work during periods
of movement restriction in the country.

 

In Bangladesh, agri-tech start-up iPage is helping to bridge the
gap between smallholder farmers and local consumers amidst nationwide shutdowns
and movement restrictions due to the pandemic. With the proper precautions in
place, they are able to serve up to 100 orders in Dhaka city daily and help
their partner farmers who were experiencing unprecedented difficulties to sell
their produce on time at fair prices.

 

Some 25 markets across Asia Pacific have joined the Youth Co:Lab
program. To date, it has reached over 75,000 participants through national
dialogues, regional summits and social innovation challenges.

 

It has also benefitted over 7,100 young social entrepreneurs,
helped launch or improve nearly 650 youth-led social enterprise and established
partnerships with over 180 key ecosystem players to strengthen the Youth
Empowerment Alliance.

 

In Hong Kong, the Youth Co:Lab Hong Kong Dialogue 2020 will be
held in early December in collaboration with the Hong Kong Council of Social
Service, with the theme “Making Progress in Fostering Equalities”. The Dialogue
will discuss and examine the needs of marginalized and disadvantaged children
and youth and identify solutions to enhance inclusion and ensure equal
opportunities and outcomes for them.

 

The work Citi has done with UNDP through the pandemic is
complemented by donations from Citi offices in the region towards COVID-19
relief efforts, part of which are helping to provide protective equipment and
medical supplies for frontliners. Additionally, Citi Foundation donated $1.5
million towards immediate relief funding across Asia Pacific which is aiding in
relief and recovery for members of vulnerable communities, including through
food ration distributions and community healthcare efforts.

About Citi

Citi, the leading global
bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more
than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations,
governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services,
including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking,
securities brokerage, transaction services and wealth management.

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