Management Associate Program > MBA

Our Programs

Citi Markets & Banking’s Asia-Pacific network (excluding Japan) provides a full array of commercial, corporate and investment banking services throughout the region. Our extensive Asian branch network, with specialists and banking professionals who speak the local language, provides local and cross-border solutions and superior technology to our customers. Our Management Associate Program prepares you to take on one of these critical roles in Citi Markets & Banking.

About The Program

The objective of the program is to develop high-potential individuals for leadership roles in the areas of corporate banking, transaction services (Cash, Trade and Securities), sales and trading, risk management, operations and technology and financial control.

Management Associates exhibit strong leadership skills, flexibility and innovative thinking that will help them face the exciting challenges of working for a powerful and diverse financial services institution. At Citi, we have a team-oriented approach that emphasizes knowledge sharing and collaboration. Management Associates entering the Program will not only acquire advanced financial and technical knowledge, but also the leadership and interpersonal skills that will allow them to maximize their potential early and to define their own career.

The Program is 12 - 14 months in duration and includes a combination of classroom and on-the-job training, job assignments, and formal mentoring.

Training & Development

Management Associates attend a regional core developmental program that takes place in Shanghai or Manila. It is a 6-week intensive program that offers a comprehensive foundation of all corporate and investment banking products through a combination of classroom training, group projects and presentations. You will be exposed to the best-in-class product modules to gain essential knowledge and skills as you embark on your career at Citi. 

The six-week core training covers:

• Basic industry skills and knowledge

• Financial statements and accounting

• Risk

• Corporate Banking and Transaction Services products

• Investment Banking and Capital Markets Products

What happens after the program ends?

The Management Associates program concludes in a job placement.

Summer Diaries

Name:         Iris Lee
Division:     Sales & Trading
School:       U of Illinois at Urbana Champaign


Weeks 1 & 2

• What were your first impressions?
  Citibankers are professional and enthusiastic
• Training:
  rotated through different desks (trading desk, money market, sales team) to get a big picture of the trading room
• Networking with your peers:
  There were 3 summer interns in the trading room and 8 in the RM team. We still keep in touch even after the program was finished.

Weeks 3 & 4

• What type of work have you been assigned to?
  macroeconomics analysis/ presentation and sales assistant
• Teamwork:
  the project was basically individual
• Mentors/Sponsors:
  they were all well experienced and provided me the best support for my project. I did learn a lot from them.

Weeks 5 & 6

• Have you been given additional responsibilities?
  I was transferred to the RM team (GRB) for one week. During the period, I was able to co-worked with the RMs and help them prepare clients related works.
• Exposure to other divisions:
  As mentioned, I was transferred to the RM team and able to understand the different division of Citi. The working experience and sales style was really different between the two groups.
• Understanding of the Firm:
  the period was too short to understand whole Citibank. However, it did give me a big picture of the financial market. As for the two divisions I had been, S&T and GRB, I did have a better understanding and good experience with them.

Weeks 7 & 8

• What are the most interesting parts of your day? How are these unique to your division?
  Trading room is really different from other departments in Citi. It is really intense, instant, and stressful. People in the division need to react to any market change/ client request immediately and any mistake could make huge losses. However, I was really interested in and enjoyed the atmosphere, as people need to be very enthusiastic about and devoted to their job to make them successful. Their attitudes really affected me.

Who we are looking for

We asked our Management Associate Program recruiters to describe what makes a good candidate and what specific skills they are looking for:

• Undergraduate / Masters / MBA degree  

• Strong academic performance

• Leadership potential

• Strong planning, project management and quantitative skills

• Results-oriented, with strong initiative and integrity

• Flexibility, adaptability and resilience to work in a challenging environment

• Global mindset

• Commitment to a career in financial services

Recruitment Process

We open for applications on September 3, 2007

Country	Application Deadline(s)	Remarks
China	December 31, 2007	Masters ONLY
Hong Kong	March 31, 2008: Country MA Program March 31, 2008: Operations & Technology MA Program March 31, 2008: Finance MA Program	Tri-lingual candidates preferred: English/ Cantonese/ Mandarin
India	All Year Round: Country MA Program All Year Round: Operations & Technology MA Program
Indonesia	January 31, 2008: Country MA Program (April 2008 intake) July 31, 2008: Country MA Program (September 2008 intake) March 31, 2008: Internship Program (between May 1 and August 31, 2008)	Masters ONLY
Korea	October 19, 2007: Country MA Program (August 2008 intake)	MBAs ONLY
Malaysia	April 30, 2008	Undergraduate With minimum 2 years of work experience, or Masters / MBAs
Philippines	All Year Round
Singapore	October 31, 2007
Taiwan	March 31, 2008
Thailand	All Year Round
Vietnam	All Year Round

Please apply early. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.

The selection process varies slightly from country to country, but usually consists of a combination of multiple 1-1 interviews, and a final round panel interview or assessment centre. 

Country	Numerical/Verbal Reasoning Test(s)	1-1 Interview(s)      (phone / in person)	Panel Interview(s)	Assessment Centre
China	Y	Y		Y
Hong Kong		Y	Y
India	Y	Y	Y
Indonesia		Y	Y
Korea		Y
Malaysia		Y	Y
Philippines		Y	Y
Singapore	Y	Y	Y	Y
Taiwan		Y	Y
Thailand	Y	Y	Y
Vietnam		Y

 

Our People

Crystal Hung MBA, University of Maryland at College Park Vice President

What advice would you offer prospective candidates on transitioning from school to the workplace?

Always be positive and proactive.

If asked about your career at a dinner party, how would you describe it?

I have been working with CitiBank for several years at various teams with Global Transaction Group. I am currently heading up a service team that helps to solve Corporate clients’ day to day queries.

What do you consider Citi's competitive edge?

Citi’s competitive edge is on innovation, brand name and high talented employees.

What other groups do you liaise with regularly within the Firm?

Operation teams, Relationship teams (APCB, NRB, FI and CCB), and various product teams.

What skills have you found to be the most useful in your position?

Communication and interpersonal skills.

What non-work related activities do you get involved in through Citi (community, mentoring, charity)?

Being Citi Club Members and MA mentor.

What do you enjoy doing outside work?

Travels. Traveling help me refresh my mind and broaden my knowledge.

Iris Lee MBA, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign SAM

Describe the most memorable experience you've ever had at Citi.

The MA training program. In the ten months, we rotated through different departments (RM group, product teams, back office, and trading room) to finish different projects and joined the oversea training courses (MAGIC). It was a challenging but exciting experience. It gave me a big picture of the bank and the chance to meet many people. The networking established in the period provides me great help on current job.

What do you consider Citi's competitive edge?

Citi’s brand name, advanced products, global platform, human capital, etc. are all Citi’s competitive edges. However, if I can only pick one, I would say people in Citi make Citi so successful today. Though I have never worked in other financial institution, from the conversation with friends, I found Citibankers are usually more proud of their jobs. They are more responsible to their customers, colleagues, and company, which affects their attitudes toward the clients and earns clients’ reliance.

How would you describe your team and the people you work with?

Professional, knowledgeable, responsible, team player, high ownership to the clients

How do you apply your degree to what you're doing now?

The case studies in the MBA enrich my knowledge regarding the industries/ markets; the accounting and finance courses establish the foundation for credit analysis and financial products; the team projects train my coordination and communication skill; the busy and tight schedule of MBA is just like a preliminary class for real life.

What skills have you found to be the most useful in your position?

Interpersonal/ communication skill. As an ARM, I found the most important skill is interpersonal/ communication skill, to both clients and colleagues. To the clients, RMs/ ARMs need best international skill to make the clients like/ rely on us and mandate Citi any business opportunity. To internal, RMs/ ARMs also need to communicate across different departments to get things done and to provide best services to the customers.

Describe your experience in your specific training program.

As a MA, it’s my pleasure to join the most famous training program – the MAGIC. MAGIC gave me the chance to meet many brilliants from other countries, including China, HK, Thailand, Indonesia, etc., which provided the best networking among MAs. In addition, MAGIC’s course design granted the MAs a whole picture of the financial industry and enabled us to understand the banking system as well as the products in a short period of time. Furthermore, the MAGIC trained/ sharpened MAs’ teamwork ability, interpersonal/ communication skill, and presentation skill through a series of team projects.

How did your summer internship help you make the decision to pursue a career at Citi?

The experience gave me a better understanding about the financial industry. Citibankers’ enthusiasm for their job and professionalism affect me and make me want to be one of them.

May Tse MBA International Business & Marketing, University of British Columbia Director

What advice would you offer prospective candidates on transitioning from school to the workplace?

Truly understand your strengths and weaknesses so that you can align the steps to take in achieving your career goals.

If asked about your career at a dinner party, how would you describe it?

It has very challenging given the various assignments in the last 13 years but the job satisfaction is also tremendous. The size of the organization opens up many opportunities in different areas/positions but it does come with many obstacles. It all depends on the person’s perseverance to overcome the various issues in his/her career path.

What about your career excites you the most - gets you out of bed in the morning?

Given our strengths in banking, Citi is often the one with the leading edge in product or solutions. I look forward in working with various units/teams to structure an innovative solution that meets client’s needs. That’s where the challenge and satisfaction come from.

What do you consider Citi's competitive edge?

This is a dynamic organization and we strive to be the BEST amongst out competitors. There isn’t a single bank which has our coverage in term of geographies and products.

How would you describe your team and the people you work with?

People in this organization are persistent in delivery the right & effective solution for clients. We are energetic and will walk the extra mile to get the job done.

What other groups do you liaise with regularly within the Firm?

Most of my interactions are with client managers across the world as the clients of my business are often subsidiaries of multinational corporates. I also work closely with our product partners, mostly GTS, FICC and GPM.

What non-work related activities do you get involved in through Citi (community, mentoring, charity)?

I have actively participated in the past years on community work ranging from teaching new immigrants and high-school students conversational English as well as Financial Education.