Cardline Global  |  Tuesday, July 7, 2009

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Mobile Money Ventures LLC, a mobile banking and payments joint venture between Citigroup Inc. and the South Korean wireless carrier SK Telecom, expects to launch its services in six more Asian countries by yearend.

Steve Kietz, the company's chief executive, said he expects it to go live in Singapore late in the third quarter and expects "two or three more installations" in North America.

Mobile Money, founded in early 2008, already offers mobile banking and payments in the Philippines and Hong Kong. It allows consumers to transfer funds, pay bills and, in Hong Kong, trade stocks.

The company is currently focused more on banking than payments, but Kietz said 2010 could bring more emphasis on the latter, including remittances.

Next year Mobile Money plans to test near-field communications technology, which enables mobile phones to make contactless payments and download information from chips embedded in posters and other types of media.

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