Citi launching digital wallet down under
Contactless mobile payments made possible with Citi Pay.
Citi will expand its digital payments offering in Australia towards the end of the year, introducing a mobile wallet for bank customers, enabling in-app, in-store and online purchases.
The new service, Citi Pay, will launch in Australia, Singapore and Mexico later this year, with a US roll-out planned for early 2017.
The wallet allows customers to make purchases using their existing Citi online user ID and password, as well as in-store tap and pay transactions.
Citi Pay will initially only be available for use on Android devices, utilising contactless payments.
Citi has also announced a partnership deal with MasterCard. Customers using the company's Masterpass service, which stores payment and shipping information, can complete in-app or online transactions with any of the hundreds of thousands of merchants connected to the Masterpass network.
Digital wallets are an integral part of the financial revolution materialising in Australia and around the globe. Many banks, organisations and institutions have released similar payment processing services. Examples include Paypal, Google Wallet, Android Pay and Apple Pay.
In June, Samsung enlisted Citi as one of the two initial card providers for its Samsung Pay service.
Citigroup understands the importance of fintech in regards to the future of the financial services industry. The bank has a dedicated innovation group called Citi Fintech and its venture capital arm has invested in startups including Betterment, Chain, FastPay and Square.
Although Australians have embraced the concept of "tap and go" more than any other country in the world, new research indicates an apparent aversion towards mobile payments.
We've conducted our own analysis of the mobile payment systems market to give you an understanding of the current situation and what it means to you as an Australian credit card user.
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