Foreign Currency Payments
A Case Study: How CIGNA Streamlined its Foreign Currency Payments
Global Finance
CIGNA, an international employee benefits provider, makes cross-border payments by wire, check and ACH to more than 225,000 beneficiaries in over 70 countries. The company wished to simplify and automate its foreign currency payments. Key objectives were to accelerate payment processing time, trim cost and to ensure a superior service to their clients.
The Problem: Payment Timing is Critical to Service Quality
Typically, producing checks and Explanation of Benefits (EOB) statements (i.e., remittance advices), adds a week or more to processing time in addition to the time for crossborder delivery. But payment timing is of the essence. The payment process must be as effective as if the beneficiary were using a local insurance provider while also reflecting the superior service that CIGNA provides.
The Solution: Simple and Seamless
Citigroup provided CIGNA with a single solution for all of its cross-border payments. CIGNA uses a direct file-delivery connection to send one payments file to Citigroup covering all of its foreign currency payments. WorldLink® Payment Services handles the rest. Printing and distributing checks with EOB details at Citigroup's regional centers accelerates check payment.
Citigroup debits CIGNA's U.S. bank account for an aggregated amount covering the total dollar equivalent of all foreign currency payments. Following payment execution, the bank sends CIGNA one file with full payment details to facilitate automatic reconciliation.
Simplicity Yields Rewards
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