Citi Launches First Facebook Messenger Banking Chatbot in Singapore That Provides Customer Account Information

Singapore – Citi Singapore today announced the launch of Citi Bot—the bank's new natural-language chatbot on Facebook Messenger. Singapore is the first market for the launch of the chatbot, which will be introduced progressively in the Asia Pacific region over the next few months.

This landmark initiative furthers Citi's open architecture approach to digital banking as the bank taps its global network to form strategic partnerships and to co-create with leading players in digital ecosystems globally and locally.

Han Kwee Juan, Chief Executive Officer of Citibank Singapore, said: "To be the best bank for our customers, we need to keep ourselves at the forefront of innovation and constantly find ways to exceed their evolving expectations. As our customers become increasingly mobile, we are embracing a strategy that makes banking relevant, convenient and remarkable, integrating ourselves into key ecosystems in order to engage them where they are most digitally active. The Citi Bot is part of our continuous efforts to enhance the digital experience we provide to our customers, by making it simple, fast and delightful for them."

"Our strategy is to be present where our customers live, work, and play. By connecting with them on Facebook Messenger, one of the most popular social platforms in Asia, we are doing just that. Leveraging Natural Language Processing, the Citi chatbot will offer customers an intuitive and convenient new way to address everyday questions, including real-time account and transaction information, rewards balances and more. Facebook Messenger is an exciting new way to access Citi and will greatly enhance our overall customer experience," said Felimy Greene, Customer Franchise Head for Citi Asia.

"We're pleased to welcome Citi Bot to Messenger," said Kahina Van Dyke, Director and Head of Financial Services Partnerships for Facebook. "Banks, financial service and FinTech firms are increasingly finding value in reaching their customers where they are already—with the 1.2 billion people who use Messenger every month."

Citi Bot will offer an extremely comprehensive set of features, and will operate in a manner that is personable, easy to understand and intuitive; similar to how a human conversation is conducted.

As part of its initial launch, Citi Bot will be able to address a range of common customer needs, including account-specific enquiries such as checking of account balances and transactions, providing credit card bill summaries, rewards and points balances and answering frequently asked questions.

Citi Bot will first be made available to some 600 Citi customers and employees who will form Citi Singapore's beta testing community, referred to as the Citi Beta Community.

Citi plans to make progressive and incremental enhancements to its chatbot, following real-time feedback from the Citi Beta Community before its commercial launch, which is planned for the fourth quarter of the year.

The second phase of the Citi Bot will introduce more new features such as card activation, ability to lock and unlock credit cards and transaction alerts for cards among others.

In addition to Citi Bot, the Citi Beta Community will be invited to co-create and collaborate with Citi in crafting the future of digital experiences and solutions, further affirming the bank's commitment to supporting Singapore's Smart Nation ambition.

To join the Citi Beta Community, customers can register their interest by sending a short text message (SMS) with the message "BETA" to 72484. More information about the Citi Beta Community can be found on http://www.citibank.com.sg/beta.

Citi
Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.

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Media Contacts
Shirley Lam shirley.bh.lam@citi.com +65 6657 5572 / +65 8828 9669
Harsha Jethnani harsha.jethnani@citi.com +65 6657 5741 / +65 9383 0872