ViVOtech has announced that its NFC mobile payment wallet, Over-the-Air (OTA) provisioning, smart posters, coupon delivery and redemption technologies have been successfully deployed in Citi Tap and Pay, a pilot service that brings to India next-generation contactless credit card payments based on this emerging technology. Launched in July in the city of Bengaluru in India, Citi Tap and Pay is one of the world's largest and most comprehensive NFC mobile payment pilots.a READ MORE

Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP today announced the filing of a series of nationwide class action lawsuits against Bank of America, Wachovia, U.S. Bank, JPMorgan Chase and Citibank in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami for abusive overdraft fees. READ MORE

A new Citibank / GfK Roper survey has found that few small business owners and managers are joining the consumer trend towards increasingly using social networking websites and services. According to the survey of 500 small business executives across the United States, 76 percent have not found social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to be helpful in generating business leads or for expanding their business during the last year, while 86 percent say they have not used social networking sites to get business advice or information. READ MORE

Citibank has launched Citi Mobile en Espanol to enable customers who prefer to bank in Spanish to do so from their smartphones. According to Citi, "the Spanish-language service lets customers manage their accounts, pay bills, locate Citibank branches and more - all from the convenience of their cell phones. Citibank is the first major U.S. bank to offer mobile banking in Spanish." READ MORE

Dave Birch has posted his latest Digital Money Forum podcast - this week interviewing Dion Lisle, Senior Vice President of Citibank’s Growth Ventures team. In this podcast, he talks about Citi's focus on the mobile future.

Citibank has announced it is expanding its mobile offering for US consumers to smartphones - including most BlackBerrys, Palm devices and iPhones. The bank says that "now, more Citibank customers can access and manage their bank accounts -- anytime and anywhere -- via their smartphone's mobile browser." READ MORE

Mobile Money Ventures has announced it has teamed up with Citibank to offer the first browser-based mobile banking solution in the Philippines. Citi Mobile Banking allows customers to securely manage their banking needs from their mobile handsets at any time and from any location. READ MORE

Citigroup Inc. today reported net income for the first quarter of 2009 of $1.6 billion and a loss per share of $0.18.

In its North American credit card business, "purchase sales declined 18% reflecting a continued decline in discretionary and non-discretionary consumer spending. Average managed loans declined 4% due to lower purchase sales and balance transfer volumes, partially offset by a decline in payment rates."

"Continued weakening of leading credit indicators and trends in the macro-economic environment, including rising unemployment, higher bankruptcy filings and the housing market downturn, drove higher credit costs. Credit costs also reflected a significant increase in delinquencies, as well as the continued acceleration in the rate at which delinquent customers advanced to write-off. The managed net credit loss ratio increased 395 basis points to 8.88% in the Citi branded portfolio and 508 basis points to 12.40% in the retail partners portfolio."

Citi has announced that "it will issue common stock in exchange for preferred securities, which will substantially increase its tangible common equity (TCE) without any additional U.S. government investment. The transaction is intended to build Citi's TCE to a level that removes uncertainty and restores investor confidence in the company."

Citi Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit said,

"This securities exchange has one goal – to increase our tangible common equity. While we believe Tier 1 capital remains the most important measure of the financial strength of banks, we recognize that the markets also view Tangible Common Equity as an important measure. This transaction – which requires no additional investment from U.S. taxpayers – does not change Citi's strategy, operations or governance. Our clients and partners will not be affected and will continue to receive the high level of service they expect from Citi around the world."

Separately, the US Treasury Department announced its agreement to participate in the exchange.

Citi has announced it is offering members of its ThankYou Rewards Network the chance to put their creativity into wallets around the world with the launch of the ThankYou Gift Card Design Contest. READ MORE

Citibank N.A. has announced the launch of Citi Online Remit, a new online money transfer service to India.

Citi Online Remit provides Non Resident Indians (NRIs) the facility to transfer funds to India from any US Checking/Savings account or using a US Credit/Debit Card as a direct transfer into the beneficiary’s Bank account or as a draft couriered to the beneficiary’s mailing address in India.

Citi today has announced the first edition of a new quarterly report on its use of TARP funds. The report, titled "What Citi Is Doing to Expand the Flow of Credit, Support Homeowners and Help the U.S. Economy" includes a section on Citi's credit card business (page 23) - where it says:

"Citi’s primary objective, particularly in this environment, is to fund the expansion of credit to existing card members and target new account originations, based on their ability to repay their loans" and that "in 2009, Citi Cards plans to extend a significant amount of new credit to U.S. consumers, within Citi’s customary sound lending standards."

What's not clear from Citi's TARP report is how these plans relate to Citi's upward adjustment of interest rates on outstanding credit card balances that began in mid-November.

Citigroup Inc. today reported a net loss for the 2008 fourth quarter of $8.29 billion. Citi also announced it will realign itself into two businesses, Citicorp and Citi Holdings, "to optimize the company's global businesses for future profitable growth and opportunities. This structure will enable Citi to focus on driving the performance of its core businesses and, separately, on realizing value from non-core assets."

The strategic restructuring creates:

• Citicorp, which will focus on leveraging the competitive advantages of the company's global universal bank in more than 100 countries, and,
• Citi Holdings, which will be made up of brokerage and retail asset management, local consumer finance and a special asset pool – whose management will focus on tightly managing risks and losses, and maximizing the value of these assets.

Citi said revenues in its Global Cards business fell 27 percent. In its North American cards business, purchases on Citi-issued cards declined 15%. In EMEA, purchases declined 21%, in Latin America purchases declined 15% while in Asia purchases declined 7%.

More details are available in its 4Q2008 earnings presentation and financial supplement.

In an article titled Citi, BofA Problems Seen Spreading to Other Banks, Jeff Cox reports for CNBC that financial analysts are predicting a spread of the problems currently affecting Citi and Bank of America to other US banks.

In an article titled "Citigroup Ready to Shrink Itself by a Third", David Enrich reports for the Wall St. Journal on plans expected to be announced soon by Citigroup to shed several business units.

Earlier today, Citi announced it had entered into a "definitive agreement to combine Morgan Stanley's Global Wealth Management Group and Citi's Smith Barney, Quilter in the UK, and Smith Barney Australia into a new joint venture to be called Morgan Stanley Smith Barney."

According to Enrich's reporting, Citigroup "executives hope to dump or shrink businesses that cater to less-affluent customers."

In an article titled "Citigroup Takes First Step Toward Breakup", David Enrich reports for the Wall St. Journal about changes coming for Citigroup - including the retirement of Robert E. Rubin and rumors of a pending spin-off of its brokerage unit.

Elizabeth Williamson reports for the Wall St. Journal that Citigroup has agreed to a deal with top Democratic senators that would "would allow judges to set new repayment terms for millions of mortgage holders who wind up in bankruptcy court." Williamson notes that the deal represents a change in direction by the financial services industry who have historically resisted efforts to allow judges to adjust mortgage loan principal amounts for consumers in bankruptcy.

Citi’s ThankYou Rewards Network has announced that it now allows its members to redeem ThankYou Points for products fulfilled through Amazon.com. According to Citi, "members can enjoy using their points to shop the millions of items Citi has made available to them from Amazon.com, the online retailer that features earth’s biggest selection." READ MORE

Citigroup's CEO Vikram Pandit was on the Charlie Rose Show last night. A video archive of the 54 minute discussion is available online. Highly recommended!

The Federal Reserve has just posted a "Joint Statement by Treasury, Federal Reserve, and the FDIC on Citigroup" on its web site.

The release said: "The U.S. government is committed to supporting financial market stability, which is a prerequisite to restoring vigorous economic growth. In support of this commitment, the U.S. government on Sunday entered into an agreement with Citigroup to provide a package of guarantees, liquidity access, and capital."

A copy of the term sheet was also provided.

In an article by David Enrich, Carrick Mollenkamp, Matthias Rieker and Damian Paletta, the Wall St Journal is reporting late Sunday evening that the US government has agreed to "take unprecedented steps to stabilize Citigroup Inc. by moving to guarantee close to $300 billion in troubled assets weighing on the bank's books."

See also the following stories: Washington Post - U.S. Putting Together Rescue for Citigroup, New York Times - U.S. Plan to Aid Citigroup Said to Be Near Approval.

Citigroup held a Town Hall meeting with employees this morning - the presentation slides are available from the Investor Relations section of the Citigroup web site. Slide 15 shows Citi's planning to reduce headcount from 352,000 to 300,000 in the near-term. This reduction is in addition to about 23,000 layoffs already this year. More coverage: Reuters, Wall St. Journal, NY Times.

Mobile Money Ventures, a joint venture of Citi and SK Telecom, has announced that it is providing Citibank Hong Kong with a service platform that supports mobile banking and mobile stock trading. Additionally, MMV has customized features for iPhone 3G users including providing a mobile stock trading application. READ MORE

Citi’s ThankYou Network has announced it has made arrangements with Citi Prepaid Services to introduce a new prepaid card rewards option for members of ThankYou Network. The prepaid cards – available in three denominations, $25, $50 and $100 – can be used everywhere Visa debit cards are accepted. READ MORE

Earlier today, Citi and Obopay announced a new mobile person-to-person mobile payments pilot. According to the fee schedule announced for the pilot, sending money has a transaction fee (paid by the sender) of $0.25 for amounts up to $50 and 1.5% of the amount for transactions above $50. So, for example, on a $500 transaction, the sender's fee would be $7.50. Note that Citi and Obopay are waiving all send money fees through the end of October.

Citi has announced that the launch of a pilot of a new mobile person-to-person money transfer service to new and existing Citibank customers via Obopay. Beginning today, the Citi Obopay mobile payment service will be offered to all Citibank customers in the U.S., with a focus on Boston, Chicago, Maryland, Philadelphia, and New Jersey. According to Citi, "this is the first time that a real-time, person-to-person mobile money transfer service with the ability to link directly to a bank account has been offered in the U.S." READ MORE

Citi has announced the launch of Citibank Paylink for Cards - calling it "an end-to-end electronic payment solution for corporations, financial institutions and public sector clients, that combines the capabilities and benefits of a purchasing card with the control and consistency of a traditional electronic payment process." READ MORE

Citi announced this afternoon that "it had reached no agreement with Wells Fargo following several days of discussions about matters related to Wachovia. The dramatic differences in the parties' transaction structures and their views of the risks involved made it impossible to reach a mutually acceptable agreement." The New York Times DealBook reports that Citi will not try to block the Wachovia/Wells Fargo merger.

Separately, the Federal Reserve has announced that it will "immediately begin consideration of the filings submitted by Wells Fargo for approval to acquire Wachovia Corporation."

The FDIC has announced that "Citigroup Inc. will acquire the banking operations of Wachovia Corporation; Charlotte, North Carolina, in a transaction facilitated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and concurred with by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve and the Secretary of the Treasury in consultation with the President."

TSYS has announced that China UnionPay Data Services Co., Ltd. (“CUP Data”), TSYS’ joint venture with China UnionPay, has signed a debit card processing agreement with Citibank (China) Co., Ltd. (“Citi China”). READ MORE