Citi Innovates Mobile Banking

The consumer banking unit of Citigroup Inc. has said it will launch a unit to be known as Citi FinTech, geared toward what the company termed a “radically simple, connected mobile banking solution,” Reuters reported Friday (Oct. 16).

The newswire said that Heather Cox would led the new unit, according to Stephen Bird, chief executive of the financial giant’s global consumer banking unit. Ahead of her movement to the new unit, Cox’s position with the bank previously was as chief client experience, digital and marketing officer.

American Banker said Friday that a memo within Citigroup stated that the new FinTech service will be part of a reorganization that will move to a “smartphone-centric business model” that will bring expanded mobile capabilities across client services such as investing and loans.

According to the memo cited by AB, the creation of Citi FinTech is being couched in terms of a revolution, with statements that insist the “world’s consumers have converted to mobile, and competitors are everywhere. We must act boldly to prepare our business for this new environment and the future of an ‘always-on’ world. Today, we are taking a bold step in the Revolution [sic] of our business model.”

[bctt tweet=” The creation of Citi FinTech is being couched in terms of a revolution.”]

In recent mobile-related news, Citi launched a mobile app for iPhones this past summer.

AB noted that Cox will serve in a co-CEO role with Jud Linville, chief executive officer of Citi Cards. Linville, for his part, will also expand his own responsibilities to embrace client experience, digital and marketing, as noted by a spokeswoman for the bank in an interview with AB.

In reference to staffing efforts, the company will recruit team members both internally and externally for the unit, which is beginning work immediately, and is slated to deliver a mobile offering in the United States by the fourth quarter of 2016.

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