Best Corporate Platform 2026

It is quite something how Citi has taken the workflow tools and product ideas from Pulse, its corporate platform from a decade or more ago, and embedded it across the franchise. This was a smart move, because when one looks at a great number of custody clients in particular, they all operate in a similar fashion to corporates.

For the latter, however, Citi continues to build what is truly a universal franchise, you walk away form a session on Pulse feeling that if they had a market on Mars, and there were restrictions or rules around how you accessed it, Citi would have a solution. This is because of one of the beauties of the platform – its repeatability.

This means that while so many local markets have their own nuances, the user on Velocity/Pulse gets one experience beyond the specific requirements of the local market. Frankly, this is a corporate platform that only a bank the size of Citi with its global footprint could pull off successfully, there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes to make the user experience a smooth one.

From passive currency overlay tools to access to pricing at weekends, through easy and automated onboarding processes that takes minutes rather than days (or weeks at some stage in the past!), the platform offers the corporate everything. The bank has also built on its SAP joint venture to boost its attractiveness to large corporates, there is also the continued work to bring the Markets business closer to the securities and treasury services units.

Citi knows it has a valuable calling card in its local markets franchise and has built a platform to deliver efficiency to those corporates operating in those markets. It is also nicely tapped into the “new economy” with tools like Instant FX for online retailers. It is also making sure it is at the table as the industry explores, tests, and roll out new technology such as stablecoins – something else that will impact the corporate world.

Ultimately, perhaps, what should be of concern to Citi’s competitors, is how these tools and services translate very easily into custody – especially as investors increasingly chase emerging market returns. Going forward, this platform will be delivering the same excellence to a wider group of clients.