First started in 2005, The "Citi Cup" Financial IT Application Competition aims to drive IT application for the financial industry and to further advance the industry with new technology. To date, around 10,000 college students and teachers have participated in the competition, and more than 200,000 have been covered through campus activities.

Yu Jin, Executive Vice President and Country Human Resources Officer of Citi China, Gary Li, General Manager of Citigroup Software Technology and Services (China) Limited (CSTS), Li Fei, vice principal of Wuhan University, and government officials from the Ministry of Education attended the award ceremony.

Mr. Yu Jin said, "Citi has been a leading supporter of financial IT education in China for many years and we are pleased to see that the Citi Cup competition has been making positive contributions to the development of the financial IT talent pool in China, which is key to the sustainable success and prosperity of the Chinese financial industry."

Mr. Gary Li said, "In its eighth year, the 'Citi Cup' has developed into a nationwide event, with thousands of students from over 40 key universities participating each year. It significantly helps raise the awareness of the importance of technology in the financial sector and builds a bridge between academia and industry."

This year's "Citi Cup" Financial IT Application Competition began in April. About 1,100 students from 43 universities participated and submitted their projects. After six months of preparation, pre-screening and a one-day final competition, a number of prizes were awarded, including Best Mainframe Product and Best Digital Banking Project.

Mr. Li warmly welcomed all the guests and praised the student participants for their innovative spirit during the competition. He said, "I believe with the joint efforts of Citi and Wuhan University, we will make great contributions to the cultivation of IT talents, the development of the industry and the progress of the society."

The "Citi Cup" competition is a key element of Citi's Financial IT Education Program, which was started in April 2004 and also has seen Citi support initiatives that include:

A "Train the Trainer" program, under which CSTS and SWUFE have jointly published three Financial IT books for distribution among universities and organizing training courses;
A "Financial IT Engineering Education Program," established by CSTS and Peking University in 2007;

The "Citi-Wuhan University Financial IT Program," a two-year program launched in September 2011 to provide customized banking IT courses, CSTS internships and on-site training to students.