All right. Thank you. Thank you so much, Jane, for coming. Especially since I know how much is on your plate right now.
Actually, nothing at all is happening in the world right now.
Absolutely nothing. Nothing at all. You have nothing better to do than be here, right? And anyway, we could be broadcasting in Spanish for our Latin American audience, but we decided that Jane would speak in English. I will be speaking in English regardless, but we wanted to say how thrilled we are to have you here in person, because the last time you were at Sibos, it was virtual, it was during the pandemic.
Thank god, it feels like a lifetime ago. I hope we never go back to that. But I know that all of us at Citi, led by Shamir and our wonderful team, are very happy to be here. It is great to see so many friends and clients and enjoy the good weather.
Absolutely right. Well, let’s start with the big picture, shall we? So, in recent years, global business has gone through many shocks, including the pandemic. But, of course, there have been many more since then. Nevertheless, global trade has proven very resilient. Has anything changed in how companies decide where to invest and build supply chains, or how to manage risks?
You know, people often ask, 'Is globalization dead because of all this fragmentation?' And I think trade gives a more accurate picture of what is happening in the world. Trade is not shrinking, it is just being redirected around the globe. And we see that, say, trade between North America and China has risen sharply, and vice versa. At the same time, we are seeing significant growth in trade between China and Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. So, new corridors are opening up, a lot of changes are happening, and we are seeing that. In the first half of the year, our trade volume grew by double digits, so activity is very high. And I think that, as you rightly noted, this is a result of increased resilience. And I find it amazing and impressive how quickly companies have adapted. After all, if you think about Covid, the war in Ukraine, and now the Middle East crisis, which has become a global rather than a regional issue, you can understand the difficulties everyone has faced. And one of the challenges for companies is that they not only have to think about how to build resilience but also how to finance that process simultaneously. So you have to have your cake and eat it too. If anyone finds a solution to this problem, please let me know. Thus, building resilience is both a physical and a financial endeavor. I know that we pay a lot of attention to this. We spend a lot of time helping our clients unlock trapped liquidity around the world. More than 70% of the issues reported to us by clients relate to liquidity unlocking. And there are many different ways to do this. We offer different solutions for this, but resilience is the foundation of foundations. And we shouldn't think of it only as a cost, because resilience allows you to take risks. It allows you to be one step ahead. And when trouble happens, you can go on the offensive, not just defend yourself. I think that is exactly the approach we have at Citi. How can we be a source of resilience for the system and our clients, both financially and operationally. And I know, Javier, that we have discussed this many times with SWIFT.
Absolutely right. As we have said, this is a top priority for us, right? We cannot think about the future if we don't have this. And as you said, just look at the numbers you presented on stage, how fast you move money around the world and the speed at which you operate globally in seconds. And, as you said, resilience and trust go hand in hand when you operate at such speeds. It's very cool. Yes, and I must say that what you are saying about shifting trade models, we also see in our network, because despite these changes, traffic remains quite high. So globalization is truly changing. So, given the current situation, what do you think global corporations now want from banks like Citi as they prepare for the future, and what do you think are the biggest competitive threats?
Look, I think that is really the most important question, because there are many shiny new things appearing in this space now, and many are looking for where to apply them. I believe our industry must understand what our clients need. And from Citi's perspective, we don't do shiny new things. We think about what problems clients have and how to solve them. There are many things that Dan talked about and that you talked about. Clients want services to work constantly. That is, 365 days a year, not 9 to 5 like before. Besides, they want everything to be instant and secure. The service must inspire trust and be efficient in terms of the balance sheet. And I am sure that in a couple of minutes we will move on to interoperability. But creating all these different capabilities is vital, as is combining traditional systems with new digital technologies, digital assets, and the world of artificial intelligence. And how do we make all of this work together? Our clients want everything to be as simple as possible. They don't want to think about how it all works. They want everything to be as smooth and easy as possible. That's one of the reasons I like tokenization. With it, we take existing client accounts, convert money into digital deposits on the blockchain, and link them to our Citi Token Services. Tokenization is a wonderful opportunity because of its programmability. So, you start solving various client problems by creating new capabilities that didn't exist before. And that is largely what we are trying to do. We have just added the UAE and Japan to Citi Token Services. And in these markets, payments are made in both dollars and euros. This has added two more markets to the five existing major hubs where we can transfer money instantly, always on the blockchain. So with all the benefits of programmability, and then linking that to our 24/7 clearing. So, I wish I could take credit for that. It is our wonderful team. They have been working on this for many years. And that's also good because we are starting to see client interest growing.
Your point of view on blockchain. I remember 15 years ago I was giving a presentation and participating in one on blockchain for our board of directors and client onboarding. We moved very slowly, and I feel like we are starting to approach a tipping point, which is exciting for the industry.
