Citizens Financial Group and MasterCard Announce Agreement to Offer inControl to Bank's Commercial Card Customers

PROVIDENCE, R.I., March 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Citizens Financial Group and MasterCard Worldwide today announced an agreement to offer MasterCard inControl to Citizens' commercial card customers. This ground-breaking technology gives business owners the ability to easily set spending controls on the cards issued to their employees and receive real-time information about their accounts, including purchases made or attempted by their employees.

Citizens Financial Group is the first financial institution in the United States to offer the technology to businesses.  

"To underscore our commitment to innovation, we are very pleased to be the first bank in the country to offer MasterCard's inControl to our business customers," said Ellen Alemany, Chairman and CEO of Citizens. "This breakthrough spend-management service answers our customers' requirements for high security, improved control and greater cost efficiency for their commercial card accounts."

"At Citizens, we listen to our customers and offer the products and services that will help them conduct their banking business more easily and more efficiently," said Prabhat Vira, Head of Citizens' Global Transaction Services Americas. "With inControl, our business customers now have a revolutionary new tool to help them to better manage their companies."

With MasterCard's inControl, Citizens' business customers will be able to:

• Set up and manage exactly where, when, how and for what types of purchases their employees' cards may be used.
• Set up spend limits and budgets for particular types of spending.
• Establish how and when they receive alerts, via text and/or e-mail, to safeguard against overspending and keep them informed in real time about attempted card activity.
• Create limited use, virtual card numbers so that spending controls can be set for individual transactions or recurring use, providing enhanced levels of security and convenience as the business owners real account number is never revealed to the employee or merchant.

"This inaugural implementation of MasterCard inControl for small business cardholders will enable business owners to have greater control and visibility over their card spending than ever before," said Michael Fiore, Group Head, inControl, MasterCard Worldwide. "The innovative tools and services offered through the MasterCard inControl platform not only empower our business cardholders to feel more confident and in control over their employees' spending, but help our card issuers drive customer loyalty and differentiate themselves from the competition."

Citizens expects the inControl functionality to be available to its commercial card customers during the second quarter of 2011.

For more information on inControl, please contact Trang Mar of Temin and Company at 212-588-8788 or [email protected].

About MasterCard® inControl™

MasterCard inControl is an innovative, flexible service which enables issuers to easily introduce payment products that offer unparalleled controls and real-time alerts to both consumer and commercial cardholders. The suite of inControl offerings satisfies strong end-user needs for high security and controlled access to spending accounts, while providing cost-efficiencies and speed-to-market for issuers and no need for any changes in the payment process at the merchant.  

About Citizens Financial Group, Inc.

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is a $130 billion commercial bank holding company. It is headquartered in Providence, R.I., and, through its subsidiaries, has more than 1,500 branches, approximately 3,800 ATMs and approximately 21,400 employees. Its two bank subsidiaries are RBS Citizens, N.A. and Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania. They operate a 12-state branch network under the Citizens Bank brand in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont, and the Charter One brand in Illinois, Michigan and Ohio. CFG has non-branch retail and commercial offices in about 40 states. CFG is owned by RBS (The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc). CFG's website is www.citizensbank.com.

About MasterCard

As a leading global payments company, MasterCard Worldwide prides itself on being at the heart of commerce, helping to make life easier and more efficient for everyone, everywhere. MasterCard serves as a franchisor, processor and advisor to the payments industry, and makes commerce happen by providing a critical economic link among financial institutions, governments, businesses, merchants, and cardholders worldwide. In 2009, $2.5 trillion in gross dollar volume was generated on its products by consumers around the world. Powered by the MasterCard Worldwide Network – the fastest payment processing network in the world – MasterCard processes over 22 billion transactions each year, has the capacity to handle 140 million transactions per hour, with an average network response time of 140 milliseconds and with 99.99 percent reliability. MasterCard advances global commerce through its family of brands, including MasterCard®, Maestro®, and Cirrus®; its suite of core products such as credit, debit, and prepaid; and its innovative platforms and functionalities, such as MasterCard PayPass™ and MasterCard inControl™. MasterCard serves consumers, governments, and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. For more information, please visit us at www.mastercard.com. Follow us on Twitter: @mastercardnews.

CONTACT:  Trang Mar of Temin and Company at 212-588-8788 or [email protected], for Citizens Financial Group.

SOURCE Citizens Financial Group