Citi Ventures and Singapore Management University have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to offer the bank's innovation and discovery program to the University's students.

Citi announced on Tuesday that its unit Citi Ventures has signed a deal with Singapore Management University (SMU) to offer the Citi University Partnerships in Innovation & Discovery (CUPID) program to SMU’s students. With the program's roots in the U.S., the partnership marks the first time that CUPID is extending the program to a university in Asia. 

«In addition to gaining practical insights into the various businesses and complexity of banking, the students will also get hands-on experience in discovering and developing innovative solutions that transform the future of financial services. In return, we look forward to tapping on some of the brightest minds of these students to help us build better solutions that meet our clients’ rapidly evolving needs,» said Citi’s Head of Operations and Technology for Asia-Pacific, Vikram Subrahmanyam in a media statement.

Foster Innovation

The CUPID program was officially launched in January 2018 in the U.S. as a joint initiative between Citi Ventures and the Citi Human Resources team to build a pipeline of new and diverse talent to foster innovation and accelerate financial services solutions within the bank. Since its launch, the CUPID program has engaged more than 1,200 students from 20 universities in the U.S., Europe, and Canada. 

The CUPID program at SMU will officially commence in January 2020 and will run through the 15-week term. Participating students will get to earn one credit unit towards their undergraduate degree upon successful completion of the program. 

Improving Customer Onboarding

«Our students will be able to work in teams to apply their classroom knowledge to real-world challenges faced by financial institutions. These include opportunities to work on improving customer onboarding through digital channels, reducing transaction cycle times and error rates, and increasing product marketing yields through real-time customer analytics. Students will be able to gain valuable experience and a better understanding of the demands and opportunities in the Fintech industry,» said SMU President Lily Kong.