Philippines: Citibank Expands Mobile Banking Suite of Services

Manila – Citibank is making SMS banking available to its more than one million credit cardholders.

Through the new service, Citibank customers who are also Globe, Smart and Sun mobile phone subscribers can simply send a text message to Citibank to inquire about their available credit balance, total amount due, minimum amount due, and payment due date information.

Speed has become a key differentiator for companies today when serving clients. How soon can you get that loan approved? Release a credit card? Serve that meal?

“At Citi, we have been pushing the limits of technology to deliver best-in-class services to our customers, and we are happy to be able to do that with SMS banking,” said Mark Jones, Country Business Manager, Citibank Philippines.

Cecille Fonacier, Customer Franchise Director, added, "With SMS banking, we are giving our customers another accessible channel to receive account information. We understand their needs, many are on the go and travel frequently, and this is another easy way for them to access data.

“For added convenience, our cardholders do not need to complete forms to enroll for the service. They just need to call our 24-hour CitiPhone to confirm that we have their up-to-date mobile phone data in our records. And clients who are already using Citi Mobile can use this service right away,” said Ms Fonacier.

This introduction continues Citibank’s development of SMS based banking services. Citibank launched the Citi Mobile payment system six months ago. This service enables Citibank credit cardholders to order and authorize purchases via their mobile phones.

This was a world first launch and today, Citibank credit cardholders can make a range of transactions using their mobile phones, e.g. order food and flowers for delivery, reload prepaid phones for family and friends, buy a prepaid Internet load and pay utility bills.

Easy to use - The simple interface is expected to make SMS banking popular among Citibank cardholders.