Deliver Your News to the World

Philippines: Innovative Citibank Solution Raises the Mobile Banking Bar


WEBWIRE

Manila – The Philippines is the debut market for Citibank’s latest banking innovation, Citi Mobile.

Launched today, this revolutionary banking feature allows Citibank credit cardholders to authorize these transactions and services via their mobile phones:

* Order food and flowers for delivery to another location
* Reload prepaid phones for family and friends
* Buy prepaid Internet loads
* Pay utility bills and charge to their card without swiping the plastic.

Country Business Manager Mark Jones said, "Given our reputation as the unofficial ’text capital’ of the world, the service is tailor made for the Philippines and we are delighted to be the first market in the world to launch this.

“With this innovation, our more than one million cardholders can now charge payments to their Citibank credit cards using their mobile phones.”

Cecille Fonacier, Citi Philippines’ eConsumer Business Director noted, "With the enhanced convenience of this feature we expect many customers will begin to charge simple day-to-day transactions to their Citi card using their mobile phones.

"For example, once enrolled, our credit cardholders can start ordering food and flower deliveries from merchants such as McDonald’s, Shakey’s and She Likes Flowers. They can also buy prepaid Internet loads from Blast and prepaid cellular phone loads from Globe, Smart and Sun, and also pay their postpaid Globe bill.

“As the service gains popularity, we will bring in more partners to give our customers more and more reasons to use Citi Mobile.”

Speaking about the development process, Bea Tan, Citi Philippines’ Cards Business Director said: "We have been testing the service for a few months now, and our employees and their families who have tried it have really embraced it.

“Just imagine, a working mom being able to send food to her children at home while she is in the office, or a dad buying prepaid Internet load for his son.”

To encourage cardholders to enroll, Citi will be giving away 100 mobile phones including the Nokia 6500 featuring dual band 3G technology, a 2 megapixel camera and 1-gigabyte internal memory. To qualify for the raffle, cardholders must enroll from May 15 to August 31, 2008.

Citi has some 1.2 million credit card customers and eight products in its portfolio including the newly launched Citi PremierMiles for frequent travelers and Citi Shell for motorists. Before the year ends, Citi will launch two new products to round off its offerings to an even 10.

“We continue to be bullish about prospects in the financial sector, and in the credit card industry in particular. We are relentless in our commitment to giving our customers the best products and services, and we will continue to raise the bar whenever possible,” Jones concluded.

The enrollment process:

Step 1: Enroll by calling the 24-hour CitiPhone at 995-9999 in Metro Manila, 234-9999 in Metro Cebu and 1-800-10-995-9999 in other provinces.

Step 2: You will receive a text message to confirm your enrollment, which will contain your temporary Citi Mobile Personal Identification Number (PIN).

Step 3: Reply to change your temporary Citi Mobile PIN with your preferred Citi Mobile PIN, using six characters and a combination of letters and numbers.

Step 4: You will receive another text message to confirm your new Citi Mobile PIN and you’re ready to begin using Citi Mobile.



WebWireID69601





This news content was configured by WebWire editorial staff. Linking is permitted.

News Release Distribution and Press Release Distribution Services Provided by WebWire.