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The development of an app for Apple Watch is a byproduct of Citi's broader transformation plan to get tech experiences quicker out of the gate. It also speaks to how mobile, and now wearables, is giving PFM an opportunity to have a comeback.
March 13 -
Citi was one of the first banks to open its application programming interfaces to outside developers, leading a movement that's picking up momentum. For this and other efforts, Bank Technology News has chosen Heather Cox as its top 2015 Digital Banker of the Year.
June 9 - WIB PH
A top priority at Capital One last year was the integration of the card business it acquired from HSBC. Leading the task was Heather Cox, the company's EVP of domestic card operations.
September 18
Heather Cox
Chief Client Experience, Digital and Marketing Officer, Global Consumer Bank, Citigroup
Heather Cox has been very busy since leaving Capital One for a newly created role at Citigroup in April 2014. The series of digital firsts she has rolled out include: launching an app for a wearable device that her team built in 120 days; creating innovation events for developers around the world to pitch their tech ideas; and earning the bragging rights for Citi as one of the first U.S. banking companies to let customers check their account balances and transactions on a mobile app without having to type in user names and passwords on tiny smartphone screens.
These are all part of her effort to develop Citi into more of a digitally driven company. Cox, who is accountable for customer satisfaction and the digital experience for 60 million consumer accounts globally, believes redefining what a bank does requires the voices of many. So she is among those championing a culture change that embraces new ideas from anyone and anywhere, as Citi works to be viewed, in Chief Executive Mike Corbat's words, as a "technology company with a banking license."
Citi Mobile Challenge, an initiative to crowdsource digital ideas from developers all over the world, perhaps best illustrates her approach. The series of events, which Cox expanded to two more regions after the success of one held in Latin America, supplied developers with application program interfaces, or APIs, so they could build working prototypes of their ideas. Participants ranged from high school students to established tech execs. Dozens of their ideas are in development and several are in beta testing.
Even while reimagining banking, Cox still finds the time to participate in industry and nonprofit activities. Among other things, she is a member of the Chief Marketing Officer Advisory Council, organized by IBM, and serves on the board of LIFT, a nonprofit whose mission is to combat poverty.
