CitiDirect BE Mobile Payment Advisor is a mobile-enabled application that allows banks, their customers, or third parties to track the status of a payment at any time and from any mobile device, similar to tracking the status of a package.

"We know from our own operations and the feedback from our financial institution clients that real-time access to payment status is critical to customer satisfaction. We developed a solution that helps any party involved in the payment chain with the information required at a moment's notice," said Sam Itzcovitz, Head of Clearing and Financial Institutions Payments at Citi.

The majority of phone calls to a given service center are simple payment status inquiries. These calls can take several minutes to complete and involve multiple parties, while an on-line check takes only seconds to return an up-to-the-minute status. Citi Payment Advisor allows users to search for transaction updates online from any mobile device or any computer with an Internet connection. The application requires no installation or user credentials, yet provides security in that fully complete and unique information as to sender reference, amount, currency and value date are required to return a result.

Payments Directory Mobile is a mobile-enabled application allows banks to explore a database of institutions worldwide that participate in U.S. dollar clearing. "Finding the best avenue for sending a payment shouldn't be a hassle. We have responded to requests from our clients to make it easy to navigate through the cumbersome process of choosing from one of thousands of correspondent banks to route a payment," says Itzcovitz.

Citi's Payment Directory brings a simple approach, allowing banks to quickly search for clearing intermediaries with filtering preferences, creating a straightforward display. The application requires no installation and is accessible from any mobile device - phone or tablet.

"At Citi, we are 'mobilizing' our online banking applications in an incremental, measured approach as part of an overall digital strategy. With an estimated 6.1 billion mobile phone subscriptions worldwide, and virtually every business executive tethered to his or her favorite mobile device, it is clear that corporate applications represent the next frontier for these ubiquitous personal communications tools," comments JP Jolly, Head of Channel Services at Citi.