Citibank sees opportunities in bolero.net Citibank understands that bolero.net is an important development in international trade and has been engaged since the pre-launch testing and development phase. Citibank became one of the first banks to sign up commercially to bolero.net in December 1999. Open Platform One of the attractions of bolero.net for Citibank is the open platform concept. By allowing electronic access to other trading partners such as freight forwarders, insurance companies and shipping concerns, Citibank can ensure reduced cycle times for document and payment processing on a global basis. The key factor to realizing these benefits is having a common standard for all bolero.net transactions.
Interoperability improves documentation quality and accelerates the resolution process.
It should also enable customers to more efficiently automate their supply chains both by reducing systems integration costs and time to market. Leadership Role Customers in the OECD world are increasingly moving away from traditional trade banking products due to costs and complexity relative to the benefits provided. Banks have an un-paralleled opportunity to reverse this trend and creatively expand their trade services and markets through innovations like bolero.net. An internal review suggested that by utilizing bolero.net, Citibank could realize a ten-percent reduction in operating costs. This would be largely due to the elimination of paper-based processes.