Banking group Citi has completed the first stage of its IT integration process following the acquisition of online bank Egg last May.

The project includes standardising the systems of the group’s five companies, and centralising core infrastructure and application development operations at a new computer centre in Derby.

Egg’s banking platforms, governance models and prioritisation processes were moved onto Citi’s back-end systems. Consumer-facing applications based on existing Egg infrastructure will be rolled out across the group.

This was one of the biggest IT projects that Citi Europe has ever undertaken and definitely the biggest thing that Egg has ever done, said Robin Young, change and technology director for Citi UK consumer.

“In Egg you have an absolutely superb customer experience in terms of technology developed by some very innovative people. On the other hand you have Citi, a massive multinational group very focused on risk and control ­ you couldn’t have two things further apart,” Young told Computing.

The bank has now moved into the second phase, a three-year software integration project linked to all parts of the business including banking, cards and collection platforms.

“The aim was to get all the best parts of both businesses, which sounds easy, but was very challenging in practice. It all comes down to finding the right individuals to undertake change,” said Young.

The group’s IT agenda started last September, with a business review to assess the size of the IT team in the long term.

“Some staff decided they did not want to be part of a big American bank. Less than 10 people left, but I expected to see a lot more departures because it felt like a very different world for them,” said Young.

“There have been huge frustrations in the past, as Egg teams found the control and risk culture incredibly hard work and felt as if they were being slowed down, and Citi teams found juggling change quite scary,” he said.

Last month, it emerged Citi could cut up to 20,000 jobs in light of the credit crunch, and the bank’s chief executive Vikram Pandit said it was feasible to take 10 to 20 per cent off its cost base, especially in information technology and operations.

But the full effect of the crisis is yet to be seen, and the bank is still actively hiring, said Young.