Transaction marks first digital structured note on Euroclear’s infrastructure and debut in wealth management industry
Citi has issued its first digitally native structured note on Euroclear’s Digital Financial Market Infrastructure platform, marking a dual milestone as the debut of a digitally native structured note on Euroclear’s D-FMI and the first of its kind offered within the wealth management industry. The digitally native structured note was issued under English Law, with Citigroup Global Markets Funding Luxembourg serving as issuer, reflecting Luxembourg’s supportive environment for digital financial innovation. The transaction demonstrates Citi’s commitment to enhancing efficiency, transparency, and innovation across the bank while showcasing distributed ledger technology’s seamless integration into financial markets.
This transaction represents a significant step in the ongoing digital transformation of financial markets, illustrating how DLT can be seamlessly integrated into existing market structures to unlock new possibilities for various asset classes. Citi continues to develop digital asset solutions, utilizing a unified technology framework to enhance its product offerings. The deal brings together multiple businesses across the firm, showcasing the full breadth of Citi’s capabilities on this landmark transaction.
Key Insights at a Glance
- First on Euroclear D-FMI: The digitally native structured note is the first such issuance on Euroclear’s Digital Financial Market Infrastructure platform.
- Wealth Management Debut: The transaction represents the first digitally native structured note offered within the wealth management industry.
- Luxembourg Issuance: Citigroup Global Markets Funding Luxembourg served as issuer under English Law, leveraging Luxembourg’s supportive digital innovation environment.
- Multi-Business Collaboration: The deal brought together various Citi businesses, including Markets, Wealth, and Issuer Services, demonstrating the firm’s integrated capabilities.
Structured Products Meet Distributed Ledger Technology
The inaugural issuance combines traditional structured products with modern distributed ledger infrastructure, preserving the full investment profile that clients expect while delivering enhanced efficiency through DLT. “This pioneering issuance marks an important step forward as we lead the first digitally native structured note on Euroclear’s D-FMI. This dual milestone demonstrates our commitment to leveraging DLT to enhance efficiency, transparency, and innovation across the Markets business and wider franchise,” said Bhaavit Agrawal, Global Head of Financial Institutions Structuring, Markets, at Citi. For wealth management clients, the transaction demonstrates how established investment vehicles can benefit from technological advancement without compromising familiar features or protections. Russell Budnick, Head of Capital Markets, Investment Solutions for Citi Wealth, added, “Issuing this digitally native structured note on Euroclear’s D‑FMI platform demonstrates how we can deliver traditional structured products more efficiently by leveraging distributed ledger technology while preserving the full investment profile clients expect. This marks an important step in expanding digitally native solutions across our global wealth franchise.”
Issuer Services Role in Digital Capital Markets
Citi’s Issuer Services team played a critical role in facilitating the transaction, leveraging experience in supporting the settlement of digital issuances while actively shaping the development of digital capital markets. Dirk Jones, Head of Issuer Services at Citi, explained, “As issuing and paying agent, we are leveraging our experience in supporting the settlement of digital issuances while actively shaping the development of digital capital markets. Our role in this transaction exemplifies Issuer Services’ commitment to connecting global issuers to new and emerging opportunities, particularly in facilitating the first structured note issuance on the D-FMI. This deal is made even more significant as it showcases the full breadth of Citi’s capabilities, bringing together various businesses across the firm on this landmark transaction.” The collaboration across Markets, Wealth, and Issuer Services demonstrates how digital asset initiatives can draw on expertise from multiple divisions to deliver comprehensive solutions.
Euroclear’s Evolving Digital Infrastructure
Euroclear’s Digital Financial Market Infrastructure platform provided the distributed ledger foundation for the transaction, illustrating how trusted market infrastructure can evolve to support innovation at scale. Isabelle Delorme, Head of Product Strategy and Innovation at Euroclear, commented, “This note illustrates how trusted market infrastructure can evolve to support innovation at scale. It reflects our ambition to move digital issuance from experimentation into everyday market practice across various distribution channels, embedding digital at the core of the financial ecosystem to enable more efficient capital flows. Together with Citi, we are embedding distributed ledger technology into existing market frameworks while preserving the robustness, legal certainty and investor protections global markets depend on.” The transaction demonstrates that DLT can be integrated into existing market structures while maintaining the legal certainty, regulatory compliance, and investor protections that characterize traditional financial infrastructure.
Future Outlook
Citi’s inaugural digitally native structured note on Euroclear’s D-FMI platform signals accelerating momentum in institutional digital asset adoption. By combining a familiar structured product with distributed ledger infrastructure, the transaction provides a template for how traditional financial instruments can evolve to capture DLT efficiencies without sacrificing investor protections or regulatory compliance. The involvement of multiple Citi businesses—Markets, Wealth, and Issuer Services—demonstrates the cross-functional nature of digital transformation and suggests that similar collaborative models will characterize future initiatives. For Euroclear, the transaction advances its ambition to move digital issuance from experimentation into everyday market practice. As more issuers and investors become comfortable with digitally native instruments, the infrastructure and expertise demonstrated in this transaction position both Citi and Euroclear to capture growing market share in digital capital markets.
Conclusion
Citi’s issuance of its first digitally native structured note on Euroclear’s D-FMI platform represents a dual milestone for both the platform and the wealth management industry. By leveraging distributed ledger technology while preserving the full investment profile clients expect, the transaction demonstrates how traditional structured products can benefit from digital innovation. For Citi, the deal showcases the firm’s ability to bring together multiple businesses to deliver integrated digital asset solutions.
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About Citi
Citi is a preeminent banking partner for institutions with cross-border needs, a global leader in wealth management and a valued personal bank in its home market of the United States. Citi does business in more than 180 countries and jurisdictions, providing corporations, governments, investors, institutions and individuals with a broad range of financial products and services.
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