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Adoniro Cestari Neto, Citi’s Global Head of Trade and Working Capital Solutions. Photo courtesy of Citi |
Having started your career with Citi in Brazil, what experiences have most influenced your perspective on trade finance and global supply chains?
I began my career with Citi in Brazil, a market that provided a strong foundation for understanding how financial institutions operate in complex and rapidly evolving environments. Brazil, much like Vietnam, is deeply integrated into global trade networks while maintaining its own regulatory frameworks and development priorities. Working there taught me the importance of combining global best practices with local market knowledge.
Over the years, I have held roles across transaction banking, trade finance, cash management, structured loans, risk distribution, and sales. That journey eventually brought me to New York, where I now lead Citi’s Trade and Working Capital Solutions business globally.
One principle has remained constant throughout my career: listening to clients, understanding their operational realities, and helping them navigate change. Emerging markets often face significant challenges, but they are also where some of the most transformative opportunities emerge. That perspective is particularly relevant when looking at Vietnam today.
How do you view the current evolution of global supply chains, and what role is Vietnam playing in this transformation?
Global supply chains have undergone a fundamental shift recently. The pandemic, geopolitical tensions, and logistics disruptions have pushed companies to focus not only on efficiency but also on resilience, diversification, and risk management.
Our research shows that between 2019 and 2024, trade flows became increasingly multipolar and Asia-centric. South Asia and ASEAN have been among the main beneficiaries of this shift, strengthening trade links with the United States, North and East Asia, Latin America, and other regions.
Vietnam stands out as one of the clearest examples of this transformation. The country has become an attractive destination for companies diversifying their manufacturing and sourcing footprints, supported by a competitive industrial base, strong trade connectivity, improving infrastructure, and deep integration into global production networks.
Supply chains today are becoming more regionalized, layered, and complex. This is where Citi’s global network can provide value by helping clients operate across multiple markets and access integrated financing solutions that connect buyers, suppliers, financial institutions, and investors.
Vietnam has become one of the region’s most globally connected trading economies. What opportunities does this create for Citi?
Vietnam’s trade connectivity is highly significant for our business. It is not only an important domestic market but also a critical node in regional and global supply chains.
Our strength lies in supporting three interconnected client groups: multinational companies investing in Vietnam, Vietnamese businesses expanding overseas, and financial institutions that require sophisticated cross-border solutions.
As trade flows become more complex, clients need support in areas such as liquidity management, foreign exchange, cross-border payments, trade finance, working capital optimization, and risk management.
The country’s continued integration into global trade also creates opportunities to introduce more advanced solutions, including digital platforms, supply chain finance capabilities, receivables solutions, and analytical tools that improve visibility and efficiency across markets.
We see Vietnam as a market with significant long-term potential. Its role in global trade has expanded considerably over the past several years, and we expect that importance to continue growing as companies diversify supply chains and strengthen their regional presence.
You helped lead Citi’s digital transformation in trade finance. How is artificial intelligence (AI) changing the industry today?
Trade finance is one of the areas where AI can deliver immediate and practical value because it is highly document-intensive, data-rich, and closely linked to risk and compliance requirements.
At Citi, we have invested heavily in modernizing our trade and working capital solutions. For example, we have redesigned the supplier finance experience through digital onboarding and integrated working capital solutions on our CitiDirect platform. The goal is to create a more seamless and scalable experience across products and markets.
AI takes this transformation further. Banks routinely review large volumes of documents, extract critical information, identify contractual terms, and perform compliance checks. AI can digitize documents, organize information, and improve processing speed and accuracy.
Generative AI and large language models add another layer of capability by interpreting unstructured content, identifying clauses related to sanctions, export controls, and compliance requirements, and routing information more efficiently for human review.
This is not about replacing human judgment. It is about enhancing it. AI allows teams to spend less time on repetitive tasks and more time on higher-value activities such as client advisory, transaction structuring, and risk assessment.
Our latest supply chain finance research shows adoption is accelerating rapidly. Among large corporations surveyed, 64% reported using new digital technologies in trade operations, while 36% said they were actively using AI, an increase of nearly 18 percentage points from the previous year.
Among companies already using AI, 19% apply it to supply chain optimization and 16% use it to automate data-intensive processes.
These findings demonstrate the direction of the industry. AI is becoming increasingly important in treasury management, supply chain operations, and working capital management, and we see an important role for Citi in helping clients adopt these technologies responsibly and at scale.
Source:e.vnexpress.net
