Citibank introduces iPad® App for Digital Banking

Citibank Sets New Standard for Digital Banking with Debut of Citibank for iPad® App
One-of-a-kind app offers traditional ledger-style banking as well as rich graphics and visual representations of consumer accounts and transactions



NEW YORK – July 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Furthering CEO Vikram Pandit’s vision to become the world’s digital bank, Citibank today unveiled its first-ever consumer banking app designed specifically for iPad. Citibank for iPad® provides U.S. consumer banking clients with an engaging, visually rich tool to track, analyze and plan their finances.

“Our iPad app is all about listening to our clients and understanding that they need their digital banking experience to be more engaging and dynamic – beyond the standard static tables you find with other iPad apps,” said Tracey Weber, Head of Internet and Mobile Banking, North America Consumer Banking, Citi. “We’re offering a whole new way of banking, with enhanced visuals and interactive tools. We’re focused on continually offering modern solutions that help put ease into our clients’ financial lives, wherever and whenever.”

Citibank for iPad is the first app from a major U.S. bank to depart from traditional ledger-style banking and offer graphs and visual representations of consumer accounts and transactions. The intuitive user interface makes it easy for customers to check balances, control their cash flow, pay bills, transfer funds, access rewards and find nearby Citibank ATMs and branches, all at the touch of their screen.

Unlike other banking apps for iPad that mirror the PC or mobile phone interface, the Citibank app takes advantage of the unique tablet experience to provide users with a visually revealing, insightful interface along with a host of interactive new features.

New way of banking – More than just an account management tool, the app allows consumers to more deeply engage with their experience, from basic banking to more in-depth financial management. Advanced features allow users to view information and take actions that will make managing their finances easier, including:

* Plan cash outflows with the help of a unique interactive chart of past and future payments and transfers
* Analyze personal spending habits through automatically generated, customizable charts of payee spending
* Compare personal spending habits with general consumer data, filtering by location, age group, income bracket and purchase category

Access to Resources – Citibank for iPad also offers access to resources and information that help users manage their financial lives, including direct access to exclusive, continually updated content from Citi Personal Wealth Management and Women & Co., a service of Citibank.

Real-time customer service – Consumers can also use the app to reach customer service directly. Citi is the only major U.S. bank to offer direct access to its Twitter customer support option via its tablet app.
To Download or Learn More:

* Citibank for iPad is available free from the App StoreSM on iPad or at www.itunes.com/appstore/.
* View a demo of Citibank for iPad on YouTube at: http://citi.us/okRNbo.
* To learn more about Citi, please visit www.citi.com.

###

Citi, the leading global financial services company, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. 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, transaction services, and wealth management. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com.

Women & Co. is a vehicle from Citibank for insightful women to build their financial knowledge, bolster their confidence and create financial strategies that will help them achieve their goals. Through access to education, resources, and a community of financially minded women, Women & Co. is Where Wisdom, Wealth and Women Meet.sm Sign up for free today at womenandco.com.

© 2011 Citigroup Inc. Citibank, N.A., Member FDIC. Citi and Citibank and Arc Design are registered service marks of Citigroup Inc. iPad and iTunes are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc. Content purchased from the iTunes store is for personal lawful use only. Don’t steal music.

Experts Help Boost Mobile Banking in Emerging Markets

27 May 2011 17:10 Africa/Lagos


Experts Help Boost Mobile Banking in Emerging Markets

PR Newswire

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., May 27, 2011

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., May 27, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Mobile phone ownership is commonplace all over the world. A ubiquitous symbol of modernity, these communication devices are now a platform for providing financial services to underserved populations.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100916/DC66431LOGO)

Darden School of Business Professor Frank Warnock and Batten Institute Fellow Veronica Cacdac Warnock have joined ShoreBank International (SBI) in their efforts to assist two new mobile banking companies achieve the goal of increased access to financial services for those outside the banking mainstream in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The team, whose participation is funded through SBI's $16.9 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will design a structure for evaluating the businesses and their progress toward the goal of financial inclusion for poor and underserved populations in the two countries.

"Companies operating in the social sector are expected to run their businesses as well as any traditional for-profit company," says Frank Warnock. "We are tasked to provide guidance on putting in place an efficient system to track the processes and enable timely and critical review of the business."

bKash, a new joint venture between BRAC Bank and Money in Motion, will offer an easy, safe and affordable way for Bangladeshis to store, transfer and pay bills via their mobile phones. UBL Omni, also a bank-led branchless banking venture, launched pilot programs beginning in 2009 to provide broad financial services that best address the unique set of needs of Pakistanis with limited use of banking services. In both ventures, the Warnocks' role is to help the companies by providing technical assistance and business expertise along a number of dimensions, including market intelligence and economic impact.

"Mobile banking for the poor has been successfully implemented in a number of countries, including Kenya and South Africa. bKash and UBL Omni aim to go beyond the traditional focus on transactions and transfers by broadening the poor's participation in the financial system as savers and borrowers," Veronica adds. "Over time, we hope to be able to extract lessons and stylized facts that will deepen the understanding of what does and does not work in the social space."

The ultimate goal is two-fold: effective and efficient delivery of bKash and UBL Omni financial services consistent with the needs of the population who have been managing their lives at the periphery of formal financial institutions, and bring them to a position where they can save, borrow and invest in order to better their conditions.

Broadly, microfinance is the provision of small-scale financial services such as loans, savings and insurance to low-income people. Micro-saving has emerged as an integral element of microfinance, which benefits many of the world's poor when their hard-earned money is protected in banks rather than kept hidden in homes and vulnerable to theft. Frank and Veronica care deeply about opportunities in underserved markets, and work to increase awareness of them among emerging entrepreneurs at Darden and U.Va., as well as in the broader business community. Along with Darden Professor Saras Sarasvathy, they also guide their students in developing "Markets in Human Hope," a practicum course for Darden's Second Year students.

This news release was issued on behalf of Newswise(TM). For more information, visit http://www.newswise.com.

SOURCE University of Virginia's Darden School of Business

CONTACT: University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, communication@darden.virginia.edu

Web Site: http://www.darden.virginia.edu

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New Report Finds Four Forces Will Shape the Future of Mobile Banking

18 Nov 2009 08:00 Africa/Lagos

New Report Finds Four Forces Will Shape the Future of Mobile Banking

Governments, industry can make choices to increase financial inclusion in the next decade

LONDON, Nov. 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The growing use of branchless banking, including mobile phone banking, is inevitable in most countries. But it's far less certain whether large numbers of the unbanked poor will use these alternative channels for financial services beyond payments, such as savings and credit. So says "Scenarios for Branchless Banking in 2020," a new report from CGAP, a microfinance group based at the World Bank, and the U.K.'s Department for International Development (DFID).


UK Minister for Trade and Development Gareth Thomas today said:


"The fact that many of the 2.7 billion people who currently don't use a bank will have access to branchless banking methods such as mobile phones and the internet by 2020 is a huge step towards financial inclusion for people in developing countries.


"The poor are kept in poverty when they are financially excluded. This means they lack safe places to save money, the opportunity to invest in their future and cannot reduce the risk of their savings being lost in natural disasters.


"As this report shows, governments and the private sector both have a huge role to play in ensuring investment is made to deliver technology-based financial services to billions of poor people."


The report sets out four scenarios on the future of branchless banking. In all four scenarios, the adoption and use of branchless banking services is forecast to be higher in 2020 than it is today. But in two of the scenarios, bursts of rapid acceleration are followed by periods of falloff or flatter growth.


"Mobile banking pioneers give us hope that millions of poor people, especially those living in rural areas, finally might be served by the banking system. That said, new business models and partnerships that provide the right incentives to banks and banking agents are vital if we are to move beyond simple payments and transfers to being able to offer other basic banking services, especially savings, that poor people need and want," said Elizabeth Littlefield, CEO of CGAP.


The report is the product of a six month scenario-building project that engaged nearly 200 leaders from the fields of technology and finance from more than 30 countries.


Snapshot of Branchless Banking Today
-- Financial inclusion is growing in most countries. This is often as a
result of the expansion of conventional banking channels, such as
branches and automated teller machines (ATMs);
-- Bricks-and-mortar growth is inherently limited by its cost. Branchless
banking presents a cheaper option but has only modest reach to date in
most countries;
-- Where branchless banking is occurring, several of the following
factors are usually at work: (i) industry belief in future
profitability; (ii) enabling regulatory change; (iii) a dramatic fall
in connectivity costs; (iv) the creation of cash-handling agents using
existing networks; and,

-- Current hype about the potential of branchless banking is running
ahead of reality. Massive sustained success in reaching the poor
requires more accurate insights on poor people's financial needs and
adoption behaviour. This is only now starting to become available.

Four Forces Shaping Branchless Banking for 2020
-- Demographic changes -- including a greater number of younger consumers
coming into the market and greater mobility at least within countries
-- will be favourable for the adoption of branchless banking;
-- Activist governments will play a greater role as regulators of the
financial sector, providers of social safety nets, and providers or
encouragers of the rollout of low-cost bank accounts and financial
infrastructure. This expanded role may be helpful for financial
inclusion;
-- While security concerns about cash crime will continue to drive the
adoption of electronic transaction channels, the rise of electronic
crime will affect consumer confidence and test the risk management of
financial providers; and,

-- Internet browsing via mobile phones will reduce costs of financial
transactions and enable new players to offer financial services.


CGAP and GSMA researchers have found that across Africa, Latin America and Asia, the number of people who do not have a bank account but do have a mobile phone is set to grow from 1 billion today to 1.7 billion by 2012. These "unbanked mobiled" individuals represent a compelling market opportunity for service providers.


Notes to Editors


The report will be released today at DFID in London. There will a live webcast on the CGAP Technology Blog from Washington D.C. on Dec. 1. Learn more at http://technology.cgap.org/.


The CGAP Technology Program is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.


CGAP is an independent policy and research centre dedicated to advancing financial access for the world's poor. It is supported by over 30 development agencies and private foundations who share a common mission to alleviate poverty. Housed at the World Bank, CGAP provides market intelligence, promotes standards, develops innovative solutions and offers advisory services to governments, microfinance providers, donors, and investors. More at http://www.cgap.org/.


The Department for International Development is the UK Government's department that manages Britain's aid to poor countries and works to get rid of extreme poverty. You can find out more at www.dfid.gov.uk/.


DFID recently launched a Facilitating Access to Financial Services through Technology (FAST) project to support the introduction of "branchless banking" to mass-markets in developing countries, such as Kenya, Tanzania, Pakistan, Nigeria, India, Bangladesh and Ghana. Pilot projects will be evaluated by teams of finance and technology experts and where appropriate help and promote increases in scale or spread to different countries.


Source: CGAP

CONTACT: Jim Rosenberg, +1-202-473-1084, jrosenberg@worldbank.org, for
CGAP; or DFID Press Office, +44 (0) 207 023 0600


Web Site: http://www.dfid.gov.uk/

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