(12 October 2012 – Global) Citi Mobile has surpassed 1 million active users in its September quarter and is now looking to launch Tablet banking in the first quarter of next year.According to a release, at the end of September, Citi had 1.1 million active mobile banking users – clients who use Citi Mobile to conduct their banking transactions – in the region and is adding between 60,000 to 70,000 new mobile users every month.
In total, the bank sees between 12 and 13 million online and mobile log-ins every month.
Citibank – the consumer banking business of Citi was the first global financial institution to launch a mobile banking application throughout the Asia Pacific, it first launched in 2008 in Hong Kong before rolling it out across the region.
Data has now shown that 95 percent of all transactions for Citi in Asia now occur outside a branch through avenues such as iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Mobile Browsers.
‘Mobile banking is playing an important role in our aim to be the world’s leading digital bank,” said Jonathan Larsen, Asia Pacific Head of Consumer Banking and Global Head of Retail Banking.
The mobile banking milestone in Asia builds on the further successful use of innovation in the region in recent years. In 2010, Smart Banking branches were launched first in Asia and then globally.
Citi will invest further in its mobile banking capabilities and over the next year the bank will be introducing a number of enhancements and new innovations in different markets.
Among some of the major developments will be Tablet Banking launch for Australia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, China, Malaysia and Indonesia in the first quarter of next year.
“We are working to make Citi Mobile more than a tool for bills payments, transfers, locating ATMs and merchants and rewards redemptions.
“Our pipeline of mobile capabilities will make it possible for clients to trade stocks, apply for credit cards, purchase goods and services and even make person to person transfers anytime they choose,” said Global Head of Mobile Banking and Asia Pacific Head of eBusiness & Direct Banking Rajesh Yohannan.