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Citigroup Inc. this week introduced a mobile-banking service for its credit card customers who use AT&T Inc. or Verizon Wireless cell-phone service, the company announced this week. Citi said in August it planned to offer mobile-banking software from Qualcomm Inc.'s Firethorn Holdings LLC subsidiary this year to enable cardholders to keep track of account activity. Cardholders can use the software to check balances and credit availability, review recent transactions, and get rewards information. "A cell phone allows us to make that information available in a way that is not a tedious process," Raja Rajamannar, chief marketing officer of Citi Global Cards, tells CardLine. "It should be simple, secure and, as a consumer, I should have relevant information at my fingertips." Citi offers several services through mobile phones. The New York-based banking company has a mobile-banking service for its deposit-account holders that uses software from mFoundry Inc. and a mobile person-to-person funds-transfer service that uses Obopay Inc.'s technology (CardLine, 10/15). Citi will introduce more mobile-banking products and services in the coming months, Rajamannar says. "This is just a precursor of a lot of good stuff to come down the pike," he says.
