Citi has rolled out a new programme in Asia-Pacific to support the bank’s commitment to gender diversity. Through its Early ID Women’s Leadership Programme, the bank is targeting at least 50% female representation in its annual summer analyst intake for its investment banking and markets & securities services businesses.

Female representation has typically been more challenging in these areas than in other banking and financial services. Through the programme, Citi aims to invest and develop a pipeline of potential female bankers for these businesses.

First piloted in North America in 2017, the Early ID scheme aims to identify, mentor, and hire diverse talent early. Open to students prior to their penultimate year in college or university, candidates selected for the programme can secure early spots in Citi’s summer analyst programme.

The 50 high achievers selected for the rollout of the scheme in the region will have a chance to be recruited for the bank’s 2022 investment banking (IB) and markets & securities services (MSS) summer analyst programmes. Split equally between the IB and MSS streams, the 50 candidates were selected from a pool of over 1,200 applicants from over 590 tertiary institutions worldwide.

Upon the completion of Early ID programme, they will each have a chance to be interviewed for a spot in the respective 2022 summer analyst programmes. Those who are successfully selected will have the opportunity to work in Singapore, Hong Kong, India, China or Korea.

Since mid-April, they have been part of a virtual five-week Early ID programme which includes one-on-one mentoring with key business representatives, virtual training and business-specific workshops, networking opportunities with senior representatives across the bank, and intensive interview preparation.

“At Citi, we actively seek out diverse perspectives, ideas and experiences. Through the Early ID Women’s Leadership Programme, we can identify high potential talent much earlier on and give them the right experiences and tools to succeed,” says Ingrid D’Lima, head of campus recruitment and employer brand for Citi Asia-Pacific.

“The programme imparts knowledge, helps candidates build confidence and enables them to experience the organization by building connections with senior leaders and mentors. Through these efforts, we hope to be able to advance female representation not just for Citi, but the broader financial services industry.”