US multinational bank Citi has reportedly announced plans to roll out a mandatory AI prompt training programme for most of its workforce.

An internal memo announcing the scheme which explained the importance of well-written prompts was shared with 175,000 employees across 80 markets earlier this week, according to publication American Banker.

In the memo, the bank’s head of technology and business enablement Tim Ryan and chief operating officer Anand Selva sad that so far in 2025 the company’s workforce has entered more than 6.5 million prompts in Citi AI tools.

They added that this has turned work that “once took hours into tasks done in minutes”.

"The scale isn't just impressive; it marks the beginning of a new way of working,” they continued.

Citi is giving employees 60 days to complete the training, which was developed using a tool that tailors the learning to existing knowledge.

The bank said that beginners can complete the task in around half an hour, whilst experts will finish it in under 10 minutes.

"Just as the right question in a client pitch can reveal clarity and create advantage, a well-crafted prompt can accelerate your work, surface insights and amplify your impact," wrote the Citi executives.

Peter Fox, head of learning at Citi, told American Banker: "As colleagues learn to use AI, there is a natural process of testing how to write prompts to produce the best results. This training is about teaching our colleagues the possibilities of great prompting versus basic prompting."

The move comes after Citi was identified as one of the leading banks for AI hiring earlier this year along with JP Morgan and Wells Fargo.

Mastercard recently announced that both Citi and US Bank cardholders would be early adopters of its Agent Pay, a payment service that allows AI agents to initiate and complete transactions on behalf of users.

Agentic commerce is an emerging model of digital commerce in which AI-powered agents – such as chatbots or virtual assistants – can autonomously perform tasks on behalf of consumers. These agents can browse, select and purchase products online, handling end-to-end transactions with minimal or no user intervention.

In August, the bank rolled out its single-entry point digital client platform CitiDirect Commercial Banking to more customers across the world and enhanced its functionality using AI technology.

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