MAKATI CITY, Philippines?Citibank will increase its knowledge outsourcing business in the country by up to 30 percent, an executive said Friday.

"The company will grow its presence here in Manila by 20 to 30 percent or about 300 workers, especially in the financial industry," said Nigel Romano, executive vice president and Asia-Pacific regional head of Citi Business Services.

The company currently has about 900 knowledge workers, a growing portion of its 4,500 employees nationwide.

Romano said Citibank would migrate office operations from Asia, Europe, East Africa and North America to the Philippines. Operations to be outsourced in the country include accounting, payment, and disbursement management and employee services.

Romano said the company plans to tap the Filipino talent of young, bright and hardworking workers.

"I am bullish about Citibank operations in the country with the quality of work people offer here," said Romano.

Companies like Intel and Texas Instruments have recently reported mass layoffs and total shutdown of operations in the country due to the global financial crisis.

"Hopefully we can hire some of their people," Romano said.

Citibank country manager Mark Jones said Thursday it would merge its Philippine thrift bank CitiSavings and personal loans subsidiary CitiFinancial by early February.

Meanwhile, Board of Investments director Celeste Ilagan said medical company SC Johnson would invest $200,000 in the Philippines to open a facility called SC Johnson Asia Shared Service center.