Many businesses today need help to manage shifting economic conditions, regulatory changes and currency movements. To stay on track, they rely on clear financial tools that support cash flow, planning and daily operations.
With decades of experience in Sri Lanka, and far beyond that globally, Citibank N.A. supports corporates, government entities and financial institutions in their local, unique requirements. This conversation with Dulani Batapola, Vice President of Solutions Sales, Treasury and Trade Solutions, at Citi Sri Lanka, and Tharindra Gamalath, Assistant Vice President and Head of Corporate Sales and Solutions, at Citi Sri Lanka, explores the effects of trade and supply chain shifts, as well as the measures businesses are taking to manage liquidity, currency exposure and digital transformation.
Given Citi Sri Lanka’s long-standing presence, how do you tailor Treasury and Trade solutions to align with the evolving macroeconomic landscape and regulatory environment in Sri Lanka
Dulani Batapola: Leveraging over 46 years of local presence, Citi combines its global network with a deep understanding of the Sri Lankan market to tailor solutions, ensuring that they meet domestic regulatory requirements for a diverse client base, including multinationals, local corporates, public sector entities and financial institutions.
During the pandemic, Citi sought to accelerate digital transformation across its client base and heavily digitised account opening, as well as cash and trade products. These platforms enabled seamless continuity of business for clients and earned Citi recognition as Sri Lanka’s Best Digital Bank by The Asset Triple A Awards for three consecutive years from 2023 to 2025.
As clients in Sri Lanka increasingly sought to set up regional treasury centres in additional jurisdictions, Citi supported these transitions through its global network and regulatory insights. Regular engagement through workshops and thought leadership helps clients adapt to and navigate evolving market conditions and regulatory changes.
Citi’s proprietary digital platforms, including CitiDirect, CitiConnect for API and CitiConnect for Files, provide treasurers with real-time visibility across various entities and geographies. This is particularly crucial in complex regulatory environments, enabling agile, informed decision-making, supporting cross-jurisdictional compliance and facilitating rapid adaptation to shifting macroeconomic conditions.
How do you see the needs of Sri Lankan corporates shifting in terms of liquidity and working capital solutions, especially amidst global volatility and digital transformation?
Dulani: Sri Lankan corporates are moving from traditional treasury models to digitally enabled, real-time liquidity management strategies, driven by global inflation, currency pressures, rising funding costs, supply chain disruptions, geopolitical shocks and digital transformation. The focus has shifted from simple cost controls to achieving real-time cash visibility, predictive liquidity and optimising the working capital cycle.
Clients are seeking faster realisation of funds to reduce days sales outstanding, maintain larger liquidity buffers and invest in highly rated banks to ensure security and stability. Demand is growing for real-time liquidity tools, automated cash concentration and multi-bank visibility platforms to consolidate fragmented balances, avoid idle cash and reduce overdraft costs.
Rising expenses are increasing pressure on profitability, prompting clients to explore diverse funding options, including accounts receivable solutions and Supply Chain Finance, to unlock liquidity trapped in receivables and payables. The integration of cash and treasury systems with ERP platforms via APIs, digital trade documentation, e-signatures, automated screening and AI-driven insights is providing competitive advantage, improving efficiency and transparency.
What are the key challenges your clients face today in optimising cash and liquidity management, and how is Citi innovating to meet those needs locally?
Dulani: Corporates face challenges in liquidity planning, currency volatility and real-time visibility. With Citi’s global digital platforms and working knowledge of market-specific considerations, the bank offers solutions including real-time cash visibility, automated liquidity sweeping and integrated working capital tools to optimise cash and build resilience, while supporting regional expansion and treasury centre setups.
Fragmented cash visibility across multiple banks, currencies and units often forces treasury teams to rely on manual reconciliations, spreadsheets or delayed reporting. Citi addresses this with real-time dashboards, API integration with ERPs, multi-bank reporting and automated cash pooling, including same-currency setups in Sri Lanka, to efficiently utilise surplus cash.
Post-crisis extended receivables, upfront supplier demands and restricted credit have impacted working capital for many corporates. Citi has assisted in improving liquidity through early receivable payments or extended payables without affecting supplier relationships via Citi Supplier Financing, thereby reducing buyer risk through off-balance-sheet solutions, as well as pre-shipment and post-shipment financing.
Automated receivable solutions such as Payer ID and Direct Debit reduce days sales outstanding, improve order-to-cash cycles, enhance working capital efficiency, free distributor credit and automate reconciliation.
With Citi’s global digital plat forms, like CitiDirect and CitiConnect, how do you ensure successful adoption and value realisation among your Sri Lankan client base?
Dulani: Citi places utmost importance on understanding the entire value chain of the payments and receivables lifecycle of its clients to ensure the successful adoption of digital solutions. Clients begin their digitisation journey through CitiDirect Digital Onboarding, a fully digital, end-to-end process that allows account opening and electronic document submission via eSubmit and DocuSign. These processes enable clients to manage payments and receivables anytime, anywhere.
CitiDirect provides centralised global access to banking services, including payments, receivables, liquidity, FX, trade and reporting, with consolidated visibility, real-time status, instant notifications and control across geographies, subsidiaries and currencies. CitiConnect for Files and CitiConnect for API enhance operational efficiency through straight-through processing, reducing manual uploads, error handling and reconciliation work, while enabling faster transactions and information delivery.
Citi offers tailored onboarding and ERP integration support, backed by dedicated teams, workshops and expert advisory. This collaborative approach drives adoption, improves liquidity forecasting, enhances control, reduces operational risk and accelerates treasury transformation for clients in Sri Lanka.
How does Citi’s global network support both inbound and out bound business activity, and how do clients benefit from these cross-border connections in practice?
Dulani: Citi’s global network is one of its strongest assets, spanning 94 markets in Services. Citi supports clients as they enter new markets and assists Sri Lankan corporates as they expand globally. This is facilitated by introducing clients to Citi teams in target markets, where deeply embedded local franchises and experts provide guidance on local rules, conditions and setup requirements.
For multinationals setting up in Sri Lanka, Citi goes beyond banking to connect them with trusted legal, tax and regulatory advisors, while also providing seamless cross-border execution, real-time visibility and consistent service standards wherever they operate. This helps clients navigate the local landscape smoothly. Citi offers consistency, connectivity and capability across markets.
Clients experience a consistently high standard of service and support across markets, which simplifies onboarding through centralised documentation repositories and daily operations through platform consistency and service harmonisation. Citi’s goal is to help clients cut through complexity and move faster. This trust extends across Citi’s global network, enabling the bank to deliver the full power of its connectivity. Citi supports clients worldwide with local market expertise, strong regulatory engagement and regulatory fluency, and the ability to navigate diverse legal and compliance environments.
What are the key macroeconomic indicators or market signals you prioritise when guiding clients on hedging strategies in the current FX environment?
Tharindra Gamalath: Our approach to guiding clients on foreign exchange (FX) hedging in Sri Lanka is shaped by the country’s unique economic environment. We closely monitor macroeconomic indicators, including interest rates, trade flows and Central Bank actions. Currently, strong currency performance reflects narrowing trade deficits and improved current account balances, supported by a resurgence in tourism and robust remittance inflows.
In recent years, currency volatility has been managed through careful actions by the Central Bank, with USD sales and purchases supporting the accumulation of FX reserves and strengthening Sri Lanka’s international position. These financial streams remain under close observation due to prior economic shocks, such as the Easter attacks, the COVID-19 pandemic and the broader economic crisis, ensuring our clients receive timely guidance.
We also assess external risks, including geopolitical instability and trade regulations from major markets such as the US, where tariffs on apparel exports influence FX movements. Seasonal tourism patterns inform hedge ratios, while internal factors such as political changes, import strategies and credit expansion are incorporated into our guidance strategy.
Citi’s guidance integrates Central Bank reserve cycles, guiding importers to hedge when dollar liquidity is ample and exporters mid-month when demand peaks. This is done while taking into consideration client budgets, global research insights and ongoing regulatory engagement to deliver bespoke, timely and strategic FX hedging solutions.
How does technology, such as advanced trading platforms and data analytics, affect the way you deliver FX and derivative strategies to clients at Citi Sri Lanka?
Tharindra: Technology is central to how Citi Sri Lanka delivers foreign exchange and derivative strategies. Platforms such as CitiFX Pulse and Citi Velocity provide clients with real-time access to live FX rates, market trends and efficient execution tools, enabling swift and confident trading decisions without operational delays.
These tools are particularly beneficial to multinational clients managing exposures across multiple locations. Even if a local entity operates in Sri Lanka, trade execution may be handled by a central treasury team in Singapore, London or other financial hubs. Citi’s platforms allow users to monitor entity-level exposures and act immediately, while API integration connects seamlessly with clients’ treasury or ERP systems for automated reconciliation and straight-through processing.
Citi Velocity also provides access to global research across markets, commodities and currencies, offering insights into both the Sri Lankan market and broader global trends. This combination of live execution and integrated research empowers clients to make faster, better-informed FX decisions, supporting strategic financial planning and risk management.
How do you balance innovation in FX and derivatives with compliance and data management within a robust regulatory and financial environment?
Tharindra: At Citi, compliance is paramount, particularly in FX and derivatives. Innovation is actively pursued, but never at the expense of regulatory or legal requirements. Every new product or concept undergoes rigorous, multi-tiered internal review across local, regional and global compliance frameworks before being offered to clients.
Our approach is not a simple replication of global solutions. Even proven international products are carefully adapted to Sri Lanka’s regulatory environment through proactive engagement. Continuous engagement ensures that Citi’s strategies harmonise innovation with integrity, while remaining aligned with international best practices and local market requirements.
What role does Citi Sri Lanka play in contributing to local FX market development and best practices, particularly through your involvement in the SLFA?
Tharindra: Citi Sri Lanka plays an active role in shaping the local FX market and promoting best practices, primarily through sustained engagement with the Sri Lanka Forex Association (SLFA). My past tenure on the SLFA committee, combined with ongoing collaboration, reflects our commitment to sharing insights and supporting market development. The SLFA acts as a unified voice for the industry, facilitating constructive dialogue with various regulatory bodies.
Citi also brings global perspectives to the local market, adapting proven international solutions to meet specific domestic needs. This includes supporting public sector entities with customised risk management strategies informed by Citi’s global experience. These efforts aim to build a more robust, transparent and resilient FX market in Sri Lanka, enhancing the ability to manage domestic and international economic pressures while maintaining leadership in servicing offshore institutional and corporate clients.