US banking giant Citi has teamed with insurance firm Prudential and telco mPay to enable customers in Thailand to make insurance payments using their mobile phones.
The free M-Collect service lets Prudential policyholders make use their hand sets to make insurance premium payments 24 hours a day, seven days a week, across Thailand. After the payment is initiated, policyholders receive an SMS text message to confirm the receipt and verify the payment transaction.
Peter Eliot, country officer, Citibank, Thailand, says: "Prudential customers will benefit from this as an alternative payment channel from traditional channels such as counter services, post offices, ATMs, cashier checks, etc and for ease and convenience to execute transactions at any time and from any location nationwide."
Citi has invested heavily in mobile banking and has launched a number of initiatives including the establishment of a joint venture with South Korea's SK Telecom which will focus on developing an advanced mobile banking platform for service delivery over the Internet as well as via handsets.
The US bank also launched a mobile banking application for US customers last year that enables users to view balances, see account activity, pay bills, transfer funds, find a branch or ATM and connect to customer service staff. Citi has also teamed with California-based start-up Obopay to launch a pilot person-to-person mobile payment service for its credit and debit card customers.