Citi Wins Mobitel Cash Management Mandate
Mobitel, a mobile telecommunications provider in Sri Lanka, has appointed Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions, a division of CIti’s Global Transaction Services (GTS), as primary cash management bank. By winning this mandate, Citi will provide Mobitel with a customised solution to enhance visibility and control of payments and collections across Sri Lanka.
For Mobitel, Citi will provide a fully-integrated accounts receivable and payable solution to enhance visibility of control funds, while also enhancing reconciliation. To achieve this goal, Citi created a customised solution comprising numerous services, including outsourcing of daily cash and cheque collection and pooling of collected funds into concentrated account structures.
Payments processing, which Mobitel had previously executed manually, will now be automated through CitiDirect Online Banking, Citi’s web-based banking platform. Under the solution provided, Citi will also fully integrate both collections and payments into Mobitel’s enterprise resource management (ERP) system for auto-reconciliation.
Additionally, Citi will deploy an Easy Pay Kiosk Machine at Mobitel’s flagship shop in Colombo to provide an alternative and convenient payment channel.
When tendering this mandate, Mobitel also required a solution to streamline the issuance of withholding tax (WHT) certificate solutions, which are required by Sri Lankan law to be returned to payers as proof of purchase. To maximise efficiencies for its WHT requirements, Citi tailored an outsourcing solution for Mobitel that allows for streamlined issuance of WHT certification issuance. With this solution, Citi enabled Mobitel to obtain the WHT certificate at the time of payment issue, eradicating time-consuming and manual processes of offsetting tax bills.
Nishantha Weerakoon, senior general manager, finance and procurement at Mobitel, said: “Citi’s customised solution for Mobitel demonstrates a complete understanding of our requirements and goals. Through experience and innovation, the Citi team successfully structured a solution that truly enhances processes and provides value creation benefits to Mobitel.”