NEW YORK, April 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Citi Global Transaction Services and XBRL US, the nonprofit consortium for XBRL business reporting standards in the U.S. market, announced today that Alan Smith, Managing Director, Citi Securities and Fund Services (SFS), is joining the board of directors of XBRL US.  In his current role at Citi, Mr. Smith is responsible for Citi's Agency and Trust and Depositary Receipts businesses.  Since joining Citi in 1984, Mr. Smith has established an extensive track record for growing Citi products ranging from US Consumer Bank credit products to Depositary Receipts Services. In his 27-year tenure at Citi, Mr. Smith has been instrumental in developing several key innovations including Exchange Traded Services, Global Depositary Receipts, Ready Credit and Telephone Bill Payments. Mr. Smith joined SFS in 1990 and has been responsible for various businesses across its Issuer, Intermediary and Investor segments.

The XBRL US board of directors provides oversight to XBRL US, which has developed XBRL taxonomies for corporate reporting by public companies, mutual funds and credit rating agencies.  XBRL US is currently developing an XBRL taxonomy for the reporting of corporate actions information as part of the Issuer to Investor:  Corporate Actions initiative, a program to promote the use of standards to improve communication between issuers and investors.  

In conjunction with this initiative, Citi is working with XBRL US on a pilot program to research the costs and benefits of using XBRL in the corporate actions processing of dividend payment announcements for American Depositary Receipts (ADRs).  The pilot program will help determine the feasibility of moving to XBRL processing and its impact on downstream consumption of XBRL data.  

"Citi is joining the XBRL US board of directors as part of its commitment to standardizing financial information and enabling straight-through-processing," said Alan Smith of Citi, "We believe that XBRL will help our clients reduce costs and improve accuracy in their own systems.  I look forward to working with XBRL US and the board on strategies to use XBRL to improve information flow in the capital markets."

Mr. Smith joins a board of directors that includes:

• Alfred R. Berkeley, Chairman, Pipeline Trading LLP
• Mark Bolgiano, Director, Enterprise Architecture & Strategy, Howard Hughes Medical Research Institute
• Charles Callan, Senior Vice President, Broadridge Financial Solutions
• Chris Church, Chief Executive Americas, and Global Head of Securities, SWIFT
• Donald F. Donahue, CEO, DTCC
• Raymond Lewis, Partner, Deloitte
• Randy Fletchall, Vice Chair, AABS Professional Practice & Risk Management, Ernst & Young LLP
• Taylor Hawes, GM and CFO, Intellectual Property & Licensing, Microsoft Corporation
• Barry Melancon, President and CEO, AICPA, and Chairman of the Board, XBRL US
• Philip Moyer, Advisor to the Board, Edgar Online
• Jennifer Neglia, Director, PwC
• Terri Polley, President, Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF)
• Sam Ranzilla, National Managing Partner, Audit Quality & Professional Practice, KPMG
• Michael Schlanger, Vice President, Business Development and Strategy of Merrill Corporation

"Alan's experience in the capital markets will add greatly to the combined expertise of the board.  His advice and Citi's involvement in areas such as proxy and corporate actions will be instrumental in moving XBRL forward," said Barry Melancon, President and CEO, AICPA and Chair, XBRL US.

The Issuer to Investor: Corporate Actions Initiative was jointly launched by SWIFT, the Depository Trust & Clearing Company (DTCC) and XBRL US in 2009.  A business case describing the impact of XBRL on the corporate actions process has been published and is available at: (http://xbrl.us/i2i/pages/businesscase.aspx).  The XBRL taxonomy for corporate actions under development is based on the ISO 20022 standard.  A pre-release of that taxonomy is currently available for review (http://xbrl.us/taxonomies/Pages/2010corpactions.aspx).  

About Citi

Citi, the leading global financial services company, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Through Citicorp and Citi Holdings, Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com or www.citi.com.

About XBRL US

XBRL US is the non-profit consortium for XBRL business reporting standards in the U.S. and it represents the business information supply chain. Its mission is to support the implementation of XBRL business reporting standards through the development of taxonomies for use by U.S. public and private sectors, with a goal of interoperability between sectors, and by promoting XBRL adoption through marketplace collaboration. XBRL US has developed taxonomies for U.S. GAAP, credit rating and mutual fund reporting under contract with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and is developing a taxonomy for corporate actions.  For more information, go to xbrl.us.

Links:

http://xbrl.us

Corporate Actions Business Case:  http://xbrl.us/i2i/pages/businesscase.aspx

Corporate Actions Taxonomy Pre-Release:  http://xbrl.us/taxonomies/Pages/2010corpactions.aspx

SOURCE XBRL US