Accumulating success
09 July 2025
Amit Agarwal, head of Custody at Citi Investor Services speaks to Jack McRae about 25 years at the bank, the drive to simplify and the bank’s newest ventures
Image: Citi Investor Services
When Amit Agarwal grew up, a career in the financial services space was always an appealing proposition. Decades later, Citi Investor Services’ head of Custody has more than achieved that early ambition.
“There was always an appeal to being a part of the financial services industry and Citi was one of the first, and in many markets, the only foreign financial institution. It was one of the most aspirational brands growing up,” he explains.
He entered the bank in its technology division focusing on global cash management and the securities franchise.
Agarwal smiles as he reflects that, “in a way, I started in the same business that I now find myself leading globally 25 years on. That early experience brought me some of the very foundational experience in the technology [of the industry]”.
Now in a key leadership role, Agarwal is focusing on driving Citi’s simplification agenda, set by CEO Jane Fraser. “We have reorganised ourselves along five interconnected lines of businesses, including our Services business, and Wealth, Banking, Markets as well as US Personal Banking businesses,” he explains.
“Under Jane’s leadership, we are bringing the synergies of all of these interconnected businesses together to serve our clients.”
Agarwal says that when he first entered the post-trade space, the complex and detailed nature of the industry struck him.
Now, he is seeking to streamline, modernise and simplify back office processes.
Tracking trends
“Things are becoming faster and more real-time,” Agarwal says of what developments he is seeing in the custody space.
“That is not very dissimilar to the transition that is happening in the cash space, the securities markets are also becoming faster. A very obvious manifestation of that is shorter settlement cycles.”
Yet, he adds that this is “only part of the story” and the underlying processes within the post-trade industry are all undergoing that transformation — from “corporate actions, acceleration of workflows, tax, emergence of digital market infrastructures, to the emergence of new asset classes.”
Agarwal also identifies how data is becoming increasingly vital. He highlights the integral part that it plays in the client’s journey and that “the procurement, provisioning, and availability of data has to be done such that clients can consume their data assets in a channel of their choice.”
Agarwal also notes how the “continuous creation of wealth in the world and more people around the world climbing up the wealth ladder” is increasing demands on the financial services sector — notably in innovation, inclusion and access.
“It’s such a profound trend that for a post trade business like ours, it becomes such an anchor point around how and where we see growth,” he insists.
The growth in prominence of digital assets has also seen Citi develop new solutions and strategies. In addition to custody services for crypto-linked securities, the bank is aiming to develop tokenisation and digital asset custody capabilities. Recently, Citi partnered with SIX Digital Exchange and will become a digital custodian.
Finally, Agarwal looks at the impact of artificial intelligence.
“Any conversation would not be complete without talking about how artificial intelligence, machine learning and new technologies are fundamentally reshaping the way that our clients and ourselves are thinking about our businesses,” he laughs.
The development of AI and new technologies are driving evolution across the asset servicing industry, but what is Citi attempting to achieve?
Building the future
“We have a very significant technology investment agenda,” Agarwal states. “Custody is part of our broader Services organisation, and the Services business is investing upwards of US$1.5 billion a year on our platforms, infrastructure, innovation, data, and our analytics agenda.”
Despite being one of the largest global custodians, Agarwal explains that their operating model means that “we are the direct custodian in most of the markets that we operate in”.
On what his team is working on, Agarwal says: “We are completely rewiring our entire custody infrastructure and one of the key things that my team is focused on is using technology to fully integrate and standardise that unique network of 63 markets.”
One of the key challenges custodians face is that chains of custody can prove to be quite lengthy.
Agarwal is determined to make that process far less convoluted.
“We are in a unique position to offer a single technology stack by completely removing multiple layers of processing.
“We call this ‘Single Event Processing’, so the process and the experience is more real time and more instant, bringing enormous efficiency for our clients,” he explains.
Agarwal believes that by collapsing their custody layers to “eliminate sequential and duplicate processes translates into reduced latency, heightened efficiencies and quicker access to funds for our clients”.
He reveals that Citi is also building a new custody platform as a modular stack.
The new platform as a service will deconstruct that chain of custody from settlement and corporate actions to every other subcomponent as a modular service.
He adds: “Increasingly, clients are asking for platform services where we can be an extension of their infrastructure, and they can focus on their core activities. We have a number of those conversations going on.”
Looking back
While Agarwal is looking to shape the future of financial services, how does he reflect on the last 25 years spent working at Citi?
“I have moved a number of roles, including from the cash side to the securities side of the house, and that is not coincidental. It’s a reflection of the opportunities that we have in our global franchise and within the Services organisation,” he begins. “With every new role, you build and you accumulate your perspective. It is quite staggering just how many things our vast business brings to our clients, and the more you move around the different parts of the bank, the more you start to appreciate the interconnectedness of our franchise.”
On whether he believes the bank has changed, Agarwal says: “We have moved from a brick-and-mortar bank to a digital-first bank. That is reflected in the way we have invested in our technology, the way we have invested in our skill sets, the way we have invested in our talent, and we are all going through a continuous process of learning, transformation and change.”
While Agarwal is unable to narrow down one proudest moment in his time at the bank, he has taken pride from every role and opportunity he has been offered.
“I am incredibly proud of all of the wonderful people in the bank that we work with day in and day out, and the opportunity to work with our clients who put their trust in us,” he explains. “Success is not a single point in time. In 25 years, it’s a lot of small things that our teams do every single day. It is a cumulative effect of all of those things that I’m very proud of.”
“There was always an appeal to being a part of the financial services industry and Citi was one of the first, and in many markets, the only foreign financial institution. It was one of the most aspirational brands growing up,” he explains.
He entered the bank in its technology division focusing on global cash management and the securities franchise.
Agarwal smiles as he reflects that, “in a way, I started in the same business that I now find myself leading globally 25 years on. That early experience brought me some of the very foundational experience in the technology [of the industry]”.
Now in a key leadership role, Agarwal is focusing on driving Citi’s simplification agenda, set by CEO Jane Fraser. “We have reorganised ourselves along five interconnected lines of businesses, including our Services business, and Wealth, Banking, Markets as well as US Personal Banking businesses,” he explains.
“Under Jane’s leadership, we are bringing the synergies of all of these interconnected businesses together to serve our clients.”
Agarwal says that when he first entered the post-trade space, the complex and detailed nature of the industry struck him.
Now, he is seeking to streamline, modernise and simplify back office processes.
Tracking trends
“Things are becoming faster and more real-time,” Agarwal says of what developments he is seeing in the custody space.
“That is not very dissimilar to the transition that is happening in the cash space, the securities markets are also becoming faster. A very obvious manifestation of that is shorter settlement cycles.”
Yet, he adds that this is “only part of the story” and the underlying processes within the post-trade industry are all undergoing that transformation — from “corporate actions, acceleration of workflows, tax, emergence of digital market infrastructures, to the emergence of new asset classes.”
Agarwal also identifies how data is becoming increasingly vital. He highlights the integral part that it plays in the client’s journey and that “the procurement, provisioning, and availability of data has to be done such that clients can consume their data assets in a channel of their choice.”
Agarwal also notes how the “continuous creation of wealth in the world and more people around the world climbing up the wealth ladder” is increasing demands on the financial services sector — notably in innovation, inclusion and access.
“It’s such a profound trend that for a post trade business like ours, it becomes such an anchor point around how and where we see growth,” he insists.
The growth in prominence of digital assets has also seen Citi develop new solutions and strategies. In addition to custody services for crypto-linked securities, the bank is aiming to develop tokenisation and digital asset custody capabilities. Recently, Citi partnered with SIX Digital Exchange and will become a digital custodian.
Finally, Agarwal looks at the impact of artificial intelligence.
“Any conversation would not be complete without talking about how artificial intelligence, machine learning and new technologies are fundamentally reshaping the way that our clients and ourselves are thinking about our businesses,” he laughs.
The development of AI and new technologies are driving evolution across the asset servicing industry, but what is Citi attempting to achieve?
Building the future
“We have a very significant technology investment agenda,” Agarwal states. “Custody is part of our broader Services organisation, and the Services business is investing upwards of US$1.5 billion a year on our platforms, infrastructure, innovation, data, and our analytics agenda.”
Despite being one of the largest global custodians, Agarwal explains that their operating model means that “we are the direct custodian in most of the markets that we operate in”.
On what his team is working on, Agarwal says: “We are completely rewiring our entire custody infrastructure and one of the key things that my team is focused on is using technology to fully integrate and standardise that unique network of 63 markets.”
One of the key challenges custodians face is that chains of custody can prove to be quite lengthy.
Agarwal is determined to make that process far less convoluted.
“We are in a unique position to offer a single technology stack by completely removing multiple layers of processing.
“We call this ‘Single Event Processing’, so the process and the experience is more real time and more instant, bringing enormous efficiency for our clients,” he explains.
Agarwal believes that by collapsing their custody layers to “eliminate sequential and duplicate processes translates into reduced latency, heightened efficiencies and quicker access to funds for our clients”.
He reveals that Citi is also building a new custody platform as a modular stack.
The new platform as a service will deconstruct that chain of custody from settlement and corporate actions to every other subcomponent as a modular service.
He adds: “Increasingly, clients are asking for platform services where we can be an extension of their infrastructure, and they can focus on their core activities. We have a number of those conversations going on.”
Looking back
While Agarwal is looking to shape the future of financial services, how does he reflect on the last 25 years spent working at Citi?
“I have moved a number of roles, including from the cash side to the securities side of the house, and that is not coincidental. It’s a reflection of the opportunities that we have in our global franchise and within the Services organisation,” he begins. “With every new role, you build and you accumulate your perspective. It is quite staggering just how many things our vast business brings to our clients, and the more you move around the different parts of the bank, the more you start to appreciate the interconnectedness of our franchise.”
On whether he believes the bank has changed, Agarwal says: “We have moved from a brick-and-mortar bank to a digital-first bank. That is reflected in the way we have invested in our technology, the way we have invested in our skill sets, the way we have invested in our talent, and we are all going through a continuous process of learning, transformation and change.”
While Agarwal is unable to narrow down one proudest moment in his time at the bank, he has taken pride from every role and opportunity he has been offered.
“I am incredibly proud of all of the wonderful people in the bank that we work with day in and day out, and the opportunity to work with our clients who put their trust in us,” he explains. “Success is not a single point in time. In 25 years, it’s a lot of small things that our teams do every single day. It is a cumulative effect of all of those things that I’m very proud of.”
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