Royal FloraHolland chooses Citi for handling international payments

18 January 2021 Citi Bank

The marketplace of Royal FloraHolland is the largest in the world of floriculture. The digital platform Floriday offers easily accessible functionality for international growers and buyers to trade with each other. Carefree trading requires payment in multiple currencies, including US dollars. Royal FloraHolland has therefore chosen Citi as its global cash management provider. Citi has offices in more than 100 countries and has a lot of knowledge about the local financial laws and regulations.

In many places in the world, the dollar is the appropriate currency for doing international business. Offering growers' products in dollars will bring purchasing power to the Floriday platform and tap into new markets. An important step to support international payment on our platform was already announced in December 2020: the cooperation with Citi, a financial institution with its own offices in many countries.

International cash management

David van Mechelen, CFO of Royal FloraHolland: "Citi's professionalism, its extensive experience in international cash management and, not least, its global presence with its own subsidiaries, offer opportunities to expand our financial services in support of our international strategy. These were the decisive factors in choosing Citi and shaping this partnership with them. Citi has extensive experience in Africa and the Middle East, among other regions, which are important production and trading areas for the members of our cooperative and their clients. Together with Citi, we can and will grow internationally."

Close cooperation

Citi is the most global bank in The Netherlands, with offices in over 100 countries. "Citi is delighted to be appointed by Royal Flora Holland as global cash management provider. We look forward to help Royal FloraHolland realise their international expansion plans. This role is testament to Citi Commercial Bank's position as a leading provider of global banking capabilities to digital and software companies in The Netherlands," said Auke Leenstra, Citi Country Officer for Netherlands at Citi. "This is a key industry for the Netherlands and Citi is very excited to be part of the Royal FloraHolland global expansion strategy".

As part of the mandate, Citi will work closely with the Royal Flora team as they enter new markets and implement their new online digital marketplace platform.