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Supporting international expansion: a scalable global treasury model

Catalyst Clinical Research Client Case Study
Article  •  January 16, 2025  •  Contributor(s):  Matt Marzicola (Director, Healthcare, Citi Commercial Bank)

Catalyst Clinical Research (‘Catalyst’) is a clinical research organization (CRO) providing highly customizable solutions to the global biopharmaceutical and biotechnology industries through two established solutions: Catalyst Oncology and Catalyst Flex. 

Overview

Catalyst Clinical Research (‘Catalyst’) is a clinical research organization (CRO) providing highly customizable solutions to the global biopharmaceutical and biotechnology industries through two established solutions: Catalyst Oncology and Catalyst Flex. They have grown rapidly since 2018 and embarked on a strategy of international expansion to enhance their full-service CRO offering.

Objective

Catalyst sought a bank who could support this growth and help them to create a scalable treasury model early in their international expansion journey, enabling a smoother entry into new markets in the future. The company decided to proactively create an enhanced treasury model to avoid the challenges faced when companies wait to rationalize fragmented banking structures. They also wanted to make the best use of their newly-implemented NetSuite ERP system to reduce the manual effort of making payments and reconciling collections.

Solution

Catalyst selected Citi Commercial Bank as their primary global bank due to Citi’s presence in more than 90 countries and experience working with clinical research organizations. The Citi team was introduced to Catalyst through the recommendation of another Citi client in the same industry.

The process started with a collaborative whiteboarding session to analyze Catalyst’s existing treasury flows in detail and identify opportunities for improvement, including industry-specific considerations. The resulting solution involved 1) consolidating existing banking relationships in the US and UK while 2) integrating host-to-host with NetSuite for payments and collections activity.

Result

Citi provided a single global contact to manage the project along with a digital onboarding portal for account openings via the CitiDirect® online banking platform to ensure a consistent process across regions.

Catalyst uses CitiConnect® to directly manage its banking activities in NetSuite. As part of this integration, Catalyst and Citi developed an XML file to support payment instructions for multiple currencies and payment types, eliminating the need for disparate payment file types as they grow. Catalyst also uses WorldLink® Payment Services for centralized cross-border payments to clinical research associates (CRAs) across countries and currencies. Key to their relationship with the CRAs is the ability to make cross-border ACH and SEPA payments through WorldLink® Payment Services, helping to reduce costly wire charges and lifting fees that had previously been an issue for the CRAs.

With the project now complete, Catalyst has already benefitted from their new treasury model. When Catalyst formed a new entity in Australia and acquired a company in India, Citi provided local market insight and supported account openings in each country with centralized visibility and control via the CitiDirect platform. This benefits Catalyst's global strategy as it has freed up time to focus on core operations rather than navigating banking in new markets.

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