The Sun Life Investment Management and Trust Corp. (SLIMTC) has appointed global financial giant Citi as its middle office service provider in the Philippines.

In a statement, Mike Enriquez, SLIMTC president said the mandate made Citi the first bank in the country to onboard a middle office client, which is an industry first.

Leveraging Citi’s well-established presence and deep expertise in the ASEAN region, Enriquez said the transaction will help move the Philippine market closer to global industry standards in post- trade related activities.

“Building on our strong existing relationship with Citi, we’re partnering with a provider whose market expertise and technical capabilities will help ensure that we can fully service the requirements of our clients for both local and offshore securities, Enriquez said.

Tiffin Tanseco, Citi Philippines securities services head said “we are excited to provide SLIMTC with a robust middle office solution that also supports the development of the local market and we stand ready to help other clients in the Philippines.”

“Our middle office solution allows our clients to focus more on their core investment activities safe in the knowledge their trade settlement and operations related activities are being supported by Citi,” Tanseco said.

Citi has been providing custody and fund services including global custody, local custody, and fund accounting services in the Philippines for more than 30 years.

Launched in 2003, Citi’s middle office service supports over 750 funds in the Asia Pacific region. Citi has invested heavily in its Asia middle office outsourcing solution and employs more than 500 dedicated operations staff based in Australia, Malaysia, India, and Singapore.

With over $30 trillion of assets under custody and administration, Citi Securities Services provides clients with local market expertise, post-trade technologies, data solutions, as well as custody and fund services.