The UK division of Citibank International is preparing to launch an online account aggregation service, providing consumers with access to all of their financial information from a single Web page. Citi is pressing ahead with the launch despite the recent misgivings expressed by UK regulatory bodies about aggregation technology.
The My Accounts service will provide a facility for Citibank and non-Citibank customers to pull together, view and access on one page, bank and credit card balances, e-mail services, news headlines, reward and mileage programmes, utility bills and other personal information from a selection of UK and international service providers.
The service is free and people do not have to bank with Citibank. Members of the public in the UK can pre-register now with My Accounts at Citibank's UK Web site.
Citigroup, which has over 9.4m online accounts worldwide, claims to be a world leader in account aggregation, with a large number of users in the US.
Consumers in the UK were recently warned off account aggregation services by the Financial Services Authority. The UK watchdog said that the methods used to pull together consumer information from across the Web could endanger confidential financial and personal information.
Citibank says it is fully aware of the legal issues which have been raised in relation to the provision of account aggregation services in the UK. The bank says it has taken advice from independent legal counsel to ensure this service is both legal and compliant. In addition, the bank says it is collaborating with with both UK payments body Apacs and the FSA, and Bits in the USA on aggregation guidelines.
Jonathan Mindell, sales & marketing director, Citibank International, comments: "This marks the beginning of a new era in personal finance and lifestyle management in the UK and the way people manage all their accounts online."
He says that the service has been particularly adapted to suit the online needs of the UK consumer.