Citi Tap and Pay Mobile Payments Pilot Breaks New Ground

LONDON, March 3, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Edgar, Dunn & Company (EDC) a leading independent global financial services and payments consultancy, today announced the release of its white paper titled "Citi Tap and Pay mobile NFC proximity payments pilot - Bengaluru, Results & Findings" that captures its views, perspectives and conclusions on the Citi Tap and Pay pilot service launched in the city of Bengaluru in July 2009. With over 3000 customers, 250 merchant locations and nearly 50,000 purchases made, the recently concluded 26-week pilot is one of the world's largest and most comprehensive next-generation contactless credit card payments pilot ever undertaken based on Near Field Communications[1] technology.

Among some of the noteworthy highlights of the Citi Tap and Pay pilot was that it reported positive customer feedback on all key fundamentals such as customer interest, usage and satisfaction. In fact, the service generated very high growth rates in overall transaction activity resulting in a significant increase in total spends, which crossed INR 26 Million. Features such as secure and hassle-free activation and enhancement in transaction speed scored positively with customers. Merchant Establishments too polled favourably for the service on its ability to speed-up payments at check-out counters.

According to the Nielsen Company, the consumer insights partner to the pilot, customer satisfaction with the Citi Tap and Pay service, as measured with the proprietary eQTM customer satisfaction index based on over 1740 studies conducted across the world, was ranked in the 'World Class' category.

To download and view the full text of the white paper, visit http://www.edgardunn.com/pointsOfView/whitepaper.cfm.

"This pilot has shown, once and for all, that suitably conceived and efficiently implemented NFC programmes, can unlock hidden demand for growth in electronic payments," says Samee Zafar, Director, Edgar Dunn & Company, who leads the firm's Advanced Payments Consulting practice. "NFC technology can help achieve a longstanding aspiration that has eluded everyone so far - migrating cash transactions to electronic means," adds Zafar.

Satish Menon, Executive Vice President, Citi Growth Ventures, said, "The Citi Tap and Pay pilot has more than validated expectations, with a clear consumer demand emerging for contactless mobile payments and services during the pilot. This is an extremely strong endorsement and validates our belief that mobile payments have the potential to transform the way our highly mobile, international and increasingly urban customers make everyday payments. We are also happy that this pilot provides insights which will prove crucial to getting the customer experience right as we, together with the industry, bring next-generation mobile financial services to market."

Vijay Ramchandran, Chief Marketing Officer, Citi South Asia, Director, E-Business & Liabilities, Insurance & Investments, Citi India, said, " The mobile phone is without doubt the most successful consumer product ever and our customers' response to this pilot service demonstrates that they expect to do more of everything through their mobile phone, including payments. We are especially pleased that Citi Tap and Pay marks a key global milestone in bringing to reality the convergence of the wallet with the mobile phone. We will continue to build on Citi's legacy of innovation to add momentum for quicker and wider adoption of this smart, everyday, everywhere technology."

Conceived by Citi Growth Ventures, and spearheaded by Citibank India, in collaboration with Nokia, Vodafone, MasterCard and ViVotech, Citi Tap and Pay offered customers in Bengaluru an opportunity to experience the simplicity, ease and convenience of using their mobile phone as a credit card. Early adopters of this technology enjoyed promotional offers such as discounts at popular merchant establishments across a wide range of categories including department stores, food courts at shopping malls and office buildings, restaurants and fast food chains, bookstores and multiplexes.

About Edgar, Dunn & Company

Edgar, Dunn & Company (EDC) is an independent global financial services and payments consultancy. Founded in 1978, the firm is widely regarded as a trusted advisor to its clients, providing a full range of strategy consulting services, expertise and market insight. Global capabilities include in-depth industry knowledge and expert advice on strategy, operations, risk management, marketing, profitability improvement, product development, and new products and technologies. With offices in Atlanta, Frankfurt, London, Paris, San Francisco, Singapore and Sydney, EDC serves clients in over 30 countries on six continents. More information can be found at http://www.edgardunn.com.

Citi

Citi, the leading global financial services company, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 140 countries. Through Citicorp and Citi Holdings, 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, and wealth management. Additional information may be found at http://www.citigroup.com or http://www.citi.com.

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[1]Near Field Communication (NFC) is a short-range wireless connectivity technology standard designed for intuitive, simple and safe communication between electronic devices. NFC communication is enabled by bringing two NFC compatible devices within a few centimeters of one another. Applications of NFC technology include contactless transactions such as payment and transit ticketing, simple and fast data transfers including calendar synchronization or electronic business cards and access to online digital content.

SOURCE Edgar, Dunn & Company (EDC)