A Case Study: How CIGNA Streamlined its Foreign Currency Payments
Global Finance
CIGNA, an international employee benefits provider, makes cross-border payments by wire, check and ACH to more than 225,000 beneficiaries in over 70 countries. The company wished to simplify and automate its foreign currency payments. Key objectives were to accelerate payment processing time, trim cost and to ensure a superior service to their clients.
The Problem: Payment Timing is Critical to Service Quality
Typically, producing checks and Explanation of Benefits (EOB) statements (i.e., remittance advices), adds a week or more to processing time in addition to the time for crossborder delivery. But payment timing is of the essence. The payment process must be as effective as if the beneficiary were using a local insurance provider while also reflecting the superior service that CIGNA provides.
The Solution: Simple and Seamless
Citigroup provided CIGNA with a single solution for all of its cross-border payments. CIGNA uses a direct file-delivery connection to send one payments file to Citigroup covering all of its foreign currency payments. WorldLink® Payment Services handles the rest. Printing and distributing checks with EOB details at Citigroup's regional centers accelerates check payment.
Citigroup debits CIGNA's U.S. bank account for an aggregated amount covering the total dollar equivalent of all foreign currency payments. Following payment execution, the bank sends CIGNA one file with full payment details to facilitate automatic reconciliation.
Simplicity Yields Rewards

Tax Management Consulting case study

Background
Our client has recently begun a move to a new global financial operating model, at the core of which was the desire to liberate the in-house Financial Officers in each of its seventy territories to focus on value-add activities and growing the business. To achieve this goal, the client was seeking a solution that considered shared service centres, automation, and/or outsourcing as methods of bringing about this liberation.
Why Deloitte?
The tax work was put to tender and we presented a five year view of how the client’s Corporation Tax compliance and accounting processes could be transitioned over to an outsourced arrangement with us in a safe and assured manner. We also gave a clear articulation of the opportunities that existed over the same time period for the client to transform their practice of tax, setting out a strategic and innovative plan to deliver both process efficiencies and better, quicker access to information. Our vision for the client encompassed quality, automation, tax knowledge sharing and organisational change, and detailed how our two organisations could collaborate to secure an eminent future for the client’s tax function.
Approach
The client picked us as their partner of choice and we are currently undertaking one of the largest projects of its kind in the world, transitioning Corporation Tax compliance and accounting processes from a combination of in-house management and service providers to Deloitte. We will deliver filing of tax returns, management of tax audits, forecast of cash tax outflows, FIN48 compliance, and interim and year-end accounting and disclosures. Deloitte teams in the client’s major locations across the world are also conducting a structured review of tax risks and opportunities to ensure best practices are applied globally.
Solution
What benefits will the client realise?
In each of the client’s territories the tax compliance and accounting work will be performed by local Deloitte tax professionals. They bring a combination of tax compliance, accounting and advisory perspectives to their outputs, adding value by pro-actively identifying opportunities to save tax.
Global Backbone will contain all of the client's tax returns and tax correspondence in an electronic file store, meaning instant access to documents and information to more easily facilitate compliance, planning and market insights. Going forward, the client will have genuine transparency and greater control of its many tax obligations around the world.