Corporate Banking by Smartphone - Can Your CFO Work From the Road ... or His Child's Soccer Game?

PROVIDENCE, R.I., Feb. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- A corporate treasurer complains about missing his eight-year-old daughter's soccer match because he had to transfer funds between two subsidiaries and could only complete the transaction from his computer. Sound familiar?

"Corporate treasurers have long been tethered to their office computers when making financial transactions, but we are fortunately seeing the beginning of the end of this 'leash,'" says Prabhat Vira, Head of Global Transaction Services (GTS) Americas at Citizens Financial Group.

"After years of reluctance, companies are now adopting the same kind of mobile technology that individuals have long been using in their personal accounts. The tide is turning toward an embrace of these enhanced platforms – corporate mobile banking is a revolution in the making."

"In fact," says Mr. Vira, "we will see a transformation in how corporations make purchases and bill for their products and services throughout the economy."

When preparing to launch their own mobile banking product, Citizens, the US bank owned by RBS, set out to discover just what the reluctance was among businesses when it came to using mobile platforms. The GTS team interviewed companies across a range of sizes and sectors to probe further: What did they want and not want from mobile banking? What were they afraid of? What would make their banking lives easier?

"We discovered some clear trends in how companies think about mobile banking and what it can do for their business," says Mr. Vira. These include:

• Security remains a primary concern. "Not surprisingly, the safety and security of sensitive financial information is uppermost in their minds. Fortunately, those who have adopted this technology are feeling confident, as the levels of security in corporate mobile technology have been drastically improved, even over the past year."

• CFOs/treasurers want same conveniences they have in their personal lives. "Nowadays corporate treasurers and CFOs are more likely to use mobile tech in their personal lives, and have a greater expectation of being able to use it in their jobs. These executives conduct the rest of their business – communicating with fellow employees, clients, and vendors – on mobile devices and other portable devices, and they want to be able to 'close the loop' when it comes to moving funds without having to be tied to their computer. This ease allows them to stay nimble and work from anywhere – greatly expanding their bandwidth and efficiency and allowing them to function more fully outside the office environment."

• Small and mid-sized businesses are early adopters. "Executives in small and mid-sized businesses have been much earlier adopters of mobile banking technology than their counterparts in bigger companies, and have been eager to implement it. Within six weeks of the launch of our corporate mobile banking application, more than 35% of the potential market had downloaded the app. Our research showed that owners of smaller, entrepreneurial companies are looking to manage their financial services in the simplest possible way so that they can spend more time focusing on actually building their businesses. Similar to the CFO group, they're looking for accessibility and 'anytime/anyplace' flexibility. As one business owner told us, 'With this banking application, I can log in at any time from any location in the world and make instant approval and release decisions.'  

"Mobile banking was developed for companies to use as a tool of efficiency and flexibility for their senior-most executives, who are more mobile than ever. This ability helps to add competitive advantage and creates better relationships with clients and vendors.

"However, at the same time, as more companies adopt this technology, there will be a shift in how businesses think about funds and how long it takes these transactions to occur, which will shift the thinking about best financial practices. This is a terrific example of how technology is changing the way people conduct business," says Mr. Vira.

For more information, or to speak with Prabhat Vira, please contact Trang Mar of Temin and Company at 212-588-8788 or [email protected].

About Citizens Financial Group, Inc.

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is a $140 billion commercial bank holding company. It is headquartered in Providence, R.I., and, through its subsidiaries, has more than 1,500 branches, more than 3,500 ATMs and approximately 22,700 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 Web site is citizensbank.com.

SOURCE Citizens Financial Group, Inc.