Citibank - global account link between US and Vietnam?

It could be that the reason the VN employees are not too helpful, other than the normally low level of customer service in VN, is that it all happens from the US side in a service they call Citibank Global Transfer (CGI).  Also remember that Citi VN is not a branch of Citibank but is structured as a separate bank with Citi in New York owning some unspecified percentage.

First, if you haven't already, you will need to sign up for online banking on the US side, then input your VN phone number in Personal Profile.  Follow these menus:  Payments and Transfers >> Citibank Global Transfers US-Abroad >> Add a Citibank Global Transfer Recipient. 

At that point you will need to accept an SMS message for a one time code.  (This security check was not needed when I set up my accounts.)  I think they can send it to a VN number but you will need your VN number in your Personal Profile.  You can probably get away with a VN phone number on the US account but you may want to keep the US address if you get certain direct deposits like social security.  After you input the SMS number you will need to input your VN account info.  After that is done, the rest should be self explanatory.

Note that this transfer mechanism is one way only, US to VN.  This service was suspended for a few months in 2013 but restored later.  I was told it was due to the country of VN not meeting certain international conventions but apparently they do now.  One other minor caveat:  I assume you have two current accounts, USD and VND.  You can go direct to the VND account but don't.  It is better to transfer USD to USD then exchange currency later.

Hi THIGV, I spent more time looking into this by starting with your suggestions.  I think I managed to find a temporary solution for now.  I've already had two separate online Citibank accounts -- one for the U.S. account and the other for VN account.  I also have two VN accounts -- one denominated in VND and the other in USD.  I receive pay in USD as an expat, so that's why they let me have a USD account.  I also have it set-up where my US phone number is tied to my US account while my VN phone number is tied to my VN accounts. 

Here's where i ended up.  Citibank appears to have two separate Global features -- one is Global View where you can view your global accounts in a single login.. and the other is Global transfers.  I originally thought that I would need to have Global View for me to initiate Global Transfers, but that doesn't seem to be the case.  Your post helped point me to Global Transfers.  I went through the process to link my US to Vn accounts and vice versa within Global Transfers and also initiated test transfers going both ways (i.e., cash from US to VN account; cash (USD) from VN account to USD).  Both appear to have went through online, but i'll need to wait a few days to confirm that the test amounts actually went through to my accounts.  Thanks again for your help!

I'm giving up on Global View, which still does not work.   I don't really care about it anymore as long as Global Transfers work.  The issue that I've been having for the past few months has been with Citibank's US tech support trying to diagnose issues with getting it to work.