Citibank eliminates all fees for direct banking; reduces the cost of banking for customers.NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 23, 1995--Citibank today announced a series of fee eliminations designed to meet the changing needs and preferences of its customers in the New York Metropolitan Area New York–Northern New Jersey–Long Island is the most populous metropolitan area in the United States and the third most populous in the world, after Tokyo and Mexico City. . Beginning June June: see month. 1, the bank will eliminate all fees for its direct banking services - those services in which customers access their personal accounts by themselves. This includes fees for electronic transactions made at Citicard Banking Centers (CBCs),or through a personal computer or the Philips (company) Philips - A Dutch multinational electronics company. It produces washing machines, consumer electronics, integrated circuits and light bulbs. Together with Sony they set the Compact Disc standard, especially Green Book CD-ROM. Screen Phone, and fees for Citibank's Bill Payment Service. These changes apply to Citibank CITIBANK First National City Bank customers in Connecticut Connecticut, state, United States Connecticut (kənĕt`ĭkət), southernmost of the New England states of the NE United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts (N), Rhode Island (E), Long Island Sound (S), and New York (W). as well. Citibank is eliminating these fees so that a broader segment of the New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of market, including both current and potential customers, can more comfortably afford the convenience and advantages of direct banking services 24 hours a day. Citibank cited its own customers' behavior and is continuing drive to advance the Citibanking experience as the most important factors behind these fee eliminations. "Our customers have demonstrated increasing interest in direct banking," said Willy willy Noun pl -lies Brit, Austral & NZ informal a childish or jocular word for penis Socquet, head of the consumer banking business in the New York Metropolitan Area. "Currently, 80% of retail transactions are conducted by customers themselves using electronic access. Their message has been clear - they want us to continue making it easier and less costly for them tailor A tailor is a person whose occupation is to sew menswear style jackets and the skirts or trousers that go with them. Although the term dates to the thirteenth century, tailor their own Citibanking relationship, whether using a branch or any one of our direct banking services." The bank also offered industry research and the activity of its competitors as additional reasons for its changes. As examples, it noted that a 1995 Ernst & Young study had reported that automated au·to·mate v. au·to·mat·ed, au·to·mat·ing, au·to·mates v.tr. 1. To convert to automatic operation: automate a factory. 2. banking had grown to 39% of retail banking transactions, while a 1994 study by the Bank Administration Institute had said that 57% of banking transactions are now conducted outside a branch. The bank said further evidence of the importance of direct banking is the growing number of banks that are expanding their direct banking services, and the number of non-bank companies that have begun offering such services or have announced their intention to do so. Finally, the bank said that most direct banking transactions are less labor intensive Labor Intensive A process or industry that requires large amounts of human effort to produce goods. Notes: A good example is the hospitality industry (hotels, restaurants, etc), they are considered to be very people-oriented. See also: Capital Intensive, Trading Dollars and less expensive to process. This means that they generate cost savings that can be passed on to customers and that they free bank personnel to concentrate on providing more individually tailored service and advice to customers. Prior to this announcement, Citibank charged a 35-cent per transaction fee at its Citicard Banking Centers for accounts which did not maintain a minimum deposit of $2,000 in checking or $6,000 in combined deposits. For Citibank's Bill Payment Service, there was a $3.50 per month fee for all customers, as well as a 35-cent per transaction charge for accounts that did not meet the $2,000/$6,000 minimum deposit requirement. In addition, there were monthly fees of $9.95 for banking by personal computer and $15 for the use of the screen phone, which also carried a one-time one-time adj. 1. or one·time a. Occurring or undertaken only once: a one-time winner in 1995. b. start-up Start-up The earliest stage of a new business venture. fee of $50. In the future, the only charge associated with the screen phone will be a monthly fee of $9.95 which goes to Philips, the phone manufacturer. Citibank's small business customers were previously charged a $55 fee for banking by personal computer, which will also be eliminated. All other fees for small business customers remain unchanged. CitiPhone, which is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by customer service personnel, will remain free of charge, as will point-of-sale point of sale n. pl. points of sale A business or place where a product or service can be purchased. Also called point of purchase. point transactions (i.e. those conducted with the Citicard at grocery stores, gas stations, etc.) The $1 per transaction fee which some Citibank customers pay to use other banks' automatic banking machines will remain in place. Standard commission charges will continue to apply to Citicorp Investment Services transactions conducted via CBCs, CitiPhone, screen phone or personal computer. With these changes, all of Citibank's direct banking services will be available to customers at no charge and with no minimum balance requirement. This means that a customer who does not meet the minimum balance requirement, writes six checks per month and makes six CBC (1) (Cell Broadcast Center) See cell broadcast. (2) (Cipher Block Chaining) In cryptography, a mode of operation that combines the ciphertext of one block with the plaintext of the next block. transactions per month can save $25 in direct banking fees per year. Customers who make use of the PC or screen phone banking can save up to $120 a year. No matter what form of direct banking access they choose - electronic access (CBC, personal computer or screen phone) or over the telephone (customers service representative or automated voice response) - customers can: - pay bills and send money to virtually anyone - buy or sell stocks - get timely stock quotes - make loan payments - review financial transactions for past 90 days (including when specific checks cleared) - transfer funds between accounts - pay Citibank credit card accounts - gain total access to one's account from outside the US Now, all of Citibank's customers can manage their banking relationships by using any of the bank's direct banking services free of charge. Citibank will continue to conduct extensive consumer education programs to help customers understand direct banking and its benefits. At Citibank branches, staff assist customers one-on-one with signing-up for direct deposit, using CBCs for deposits and many other transactions, establishing a telephone personal identification code (TPIC TPIC Type Physical Inventory Code TPIC Triple Pole Iron Clad Switch ) for banking by CitiPhone, and demonstrating the convenience of Citibank's Bill Payment Service. Citibank also conducts seminars in English and Spanish Spanish, river, c.150 mi (240 km) long, issuing from Spanish Lake, S Ont., Canada, NW of Sudbury, and flowing generally S through Biskotasi and Agnew lakes to Lake Huron opposite Manitoulin island. There are several hydroelectric stations on the river. at community organizations to increase New Yorkers' awareness of the convenience of direct banking. The seminars are one part of Citibank's on-going program to educate consumers about banking, home mortgages, small business lending and credit cards. The bank will begin introducing new seminars for customers and community groups in late June. Topics of these seminars will include an introduction to basic banking, understanding banking access, fundamentals of credit and an introduction to banking for children. Citibank is a subsidiary of Citicorp. There are 1,200 Citibank branches in 41 countries around the world, including 443 in seven U.S. states A U.S. state is any one of the fifty subnational entities of the United States, although four states use the official title "commonwealth". The separate state governments and the federal government share sovereignty, in that an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and and the District of Columbia District of Columbia, federal district (2000 pop. 572,059, a 5.7% decrease in population since the 1990 census), 69 sq mi (179 sq km), on the east bank of the Potomac River, coextensive with the city of Washington, D.C. (the capital of the United States). , with 208 in the New York Metropolitan Area.
Citibank eliminates fees for direct banking services
Previously As of 6/1/95
Citicard Banking $.35/transaction for customers Free
Centers (CBCs) not meeting minimum balance
requirements(a)
Citibank on the PC $9.95/month + Free
$.35/transaction for customers
not meeting minimum balance
requirements
Citibank's Bill $3.50/month + Free
Payment Service $.35/transaction for customers
not meeting minimum balance
requirements
CitiPhone Banking Free Free Citibank on the PC for Small Business $55/month Free Point-of-sale transactions Free Free
Citibank on the
screen phone $15 month + $9.95/month
$50 one time start-up fee (goes directly
to Philips, the
phone manufacturer)
(a) Minimun balance requirement is $2,000 in checking only or $6,000 in combined deposits. CONTACT: Citibank Susan Weeks, 212/559-0580 or Ruder-Finn Michael Sullivan Michael Sullivan may refer to: Michael Sullivan
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