Citigroup’s digital strategy and focus on future partnerships led to a rise in technology spend in the third quarter.

Citi’s technology and communications spend was up 6% in the third quarter to nearly $2 billion year over year. The $2.2 trillion bank discussed technology-related initiatives during its Thursday earnings call, including future partnerships and digital offerings, including 80 APIs.

Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser expressed disappointment that Google Plex is shutting down, effectively closing out partners Citi and Stanford Federal Credit Union. But she put the news in the perspective of the bank’s broader digital efforts.

“It is just one part of our digital strategy,” Fraser said in response to analyst questions about the news. “We certainly didn’t have all the eggs in that basket as we’ve been talking about for a few quarters now. And what I am pleased is the strength of the digital engagement that we are seeing across the U.S.”

Fraser cited the New York-based bank’s investment in “very reusable capabilities for future partnerships and existing ones that we have, as well as our own proprietary efforts.”

Specifically, the bank has added 80 APIs to support interoperability with partners.

“We’ve developed a whole suite of embedded services that are ready to deploy,” Fraser said. “That’s things like real-time digital alerts, partner-branded communications, and, probably most importantly — and maybe this is the geek in me — we put together new tech stacks, and we’ve learned a lot about doing this that’s very valuable for what we’re doing right now and for partnerships going forward.”

These partnerships will help further the bank’s digitization strategy in the U.S., she said.

Citigroup’s Q3 net income was $4.6 billion, up 48% from the same time last year. The bank said the increase was due to a lower cost of credit, partially offset by higher expenses and lower revenues of $17.2 billion compared to $17.3 billion from Q3 2020. The revenue decline was due to a pre-tax loss of approximately $680 million related to the sale of the Australian consumer business in Global Consumer Banking.

Other tech-related plays the bank highlighted:

• Last month’s rollout of Spot, Citibank’s Australian Buy Now Pay Later card.
• Expanded partnerships with point-of-sale card lending, including a partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon.
• Expansion of its product suite to include off-card lending capabilities, such as pay later installment loans for existing card customers, with 88% of those total sales in digital channels.
• A plan submitted last quarter to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency that spans multiple years and involves six major programs. This is a response to last year’s $400 million civil money penalty against the bank. The plan provides clear target states for risk, controls and core operating model elements, Fraser said. Specifically, the bank has made new hires in data to support that effort.

Citigroup stocks [NYSE: C] were trading at $72.29 as of 4:55 p.m., up 2.09% from market open.