Citi seeks developers in global mobile banking challenge
Citi is seeking developers for its events in Miami, New York and Silicon Valley
Citi has launched a global challenge that it says will help to inspire technology developers to reimagine mobile banking and payments. The bank plans to host a series of events in Miami, New York and Silicon Valley in November, after which finalists will get the chance to bring their product to market with help from Citi.
To attract the developers, the bank has teamed up with technology firms including Intuit, Plug and Play, and Wearable World. Citi will provide the developers with tools they can use to build products either through mobile apps or the ‘Internet of Things’. A panel of entrepreneurs, investors and leaders in technology and banking will review the ideas and select the finalists.
The challenge follows on from a similar programme which took place in Latin America earlier this year. The Citi mobile challenge LatAm focused on consumer and B2B projects and managed to attract 500 developers. The events took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Bogota, Colombia. The bank is still evaluating several pilots that emerged from the winners of the Latin American challenge, and these include an e-commerce app called Citi Shopping by PideloRapido, a mobile commerce tool called PAQ built by POS Movil, and SACapp, a mobile tool for customer service that interacts with call centre agents.
“Citi has long been a leader in innovating the client experience through technology, from pioneering the ATM to introducing the first mobile banking app,” said Heather Cox, chief client experience, digital and marketing officer for global consumer banking at Citi.”We want to drive the next innovations that improve consumers’ lives, and we created the Citi mobile challenge with that in mind. We are excited to discover what these developers will bring and we are challenging them to be bold and break new ground.”
“Mobile devices and local transactions are taking over our lives,” added Saeed Amidi, chief executive at Plug and Play, which has partnered with Citi in the challenge. “We see tremendous potential for growth in the financial technology space including mobile payments, digital currency, wearables, authentication, security and data analytics. The Citi mobile challenge provides a great opportunity to jointly review the most innovative companies in this space. Plug and Play will host the 10 November 10 demo day at its Silicon Valley centre in Sunnyvale, California.”
