Citi Handlowy’s "Pay with Your Mobile Directly From Your Bank Account" Service is "Innovation of the Year 2008"

Warsaw – Citi Handlowy’s “Pay with Your Mobile” service has been named “Innovation of the Year 2008,” according to the Mobile Internet monthly. At the eighth Mobile Internet Gala, representatives of Citi Handlowy, the Plus mobile network operator, and mPay, an acquirer, received a “Virtual Phone” statuette in recognition for the launch of a unique service that allows customers to use their mobile phones to make payments directly from their bank accounts with Citi Handlowy.

“For us, winning the ’Innovation of the Year’ title for our ’Pay With Your Mobile’ service is a reason for pride while simultaneously confirming that Citi Handlowy takes an innovative approach to a product and its development,” said Sonia Wedrychowicz-Horbatowska, Vice President of the Management Board of Citi Handlowy and GCG Poland Head. "However, I would like to note that this award would have never been possible without the historic agreement of three partners – a bank, a mobile network operator and an acquirer. Owing to this collaborative approach to innovation, the ’Pay with Your Mobile’ service allows customers to make mobile payments in an easy and convenient way and provides the market with the opportunity to develop new mobile payment standards.

The “Virtual Phone” award for the ’Innovation of the Year 2008’ was presented to the creators of the “Pay with Your Mobile” initiative at the Mobile Internet Gala ceremony. Every year, the monthly recognizes companies whose products have the greatest influence on the development of mobile telecommunication and financial services in Poland.

The “Pay with Your Mobile” service was officially launched in December 2008 when passengers of the public municipal transport in Warsaw were enabled to use their mobile phones to purchase ZTM time-limited tickets.

The solution allows customers to conveniently pay for purchases directly from a Citi Handlowy bank account with the use of a mobile phone. There is no need to install additional applications and the service is available to all mobile phone users irrespective of the mobile phone model they have.

Today, “Pay with Your Mobile” mobile payments are already accepted in more than 1,500 points of sale. In the first stage of the project, the service is available mainly in Warsaw. The “Pay with Your Mobile” service is free of charge and customers can activate it by signing an electronic payment instrument agreement with the bank in Citi Handlowy branches or by calling CitiPhone.

More information about the “Pay with Your Mobile” service is available at www.plac-komorka.pl.

Citi Handlowy
Citi Handlowy is one of the major financial institutions in Poland and offers under the Citi Handlowy brand a broad range of state-of-the-art products in corporate, investment and consumer banking. Through its modern distribution channels and a network of over 200 branches, Bank Handlowy services 20,000 corporate customers and 1,000,000 individual ones. The Bank’s group includes Dom Maklerski Banku Handlowego (brokerage house) and Handlowy Leasing. Being a member of Citi, enables the customers of Bank Handlowy access to financial services provided in over 100 countries. Further information is available at www.citihandlowy.pl.

Citi
Citi, the leading global financial services company, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 140 countries. Through its two operating units, Citicorp and Citi Holdings, Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com or www.citi.com.