Citi announces partners for Asia Pacific Mobile Challenge

IBM and PwC are Citi’s strategic partners for the Citi Mobile Challenge in Asia Pacific. IBM will offer mentorship tutorials, and access to Bluemix, IBM’s digital innovation platform, to help developers participating in the Citi Mobile Challenge build, test and deploy their financial technology solutions.

PwC is working with Citi to create a unique acceleration program across the Asia-Pacific region. This acceleration program will deliver relevant business leadership and industry content to program finalists, together with structured mentoring from senior Citi management.

Citi Mobile Challenge Asia Pacific is a next-generation accelerator that combines a virtual hackathon with an incubator and a worldwide network of FinTech experts and developers from Asia Pacific and around the world who will compete to build innovative solutions that are capable of running on Citi’s digital platform globally.

Harjeet Baura, Partner at PwC Hong Kong commented: “Citi has a history of enhancing clients’ lives through technology innovation. PwC is proud to be supporting Citi, helping to change the way people around the world interact with their money.”

“FinTech is already disrupting traditional financial services, and even more so in Asia. PwC is investing heavily in our Digital and Analytics capabilities to support our clients with these business opportunities – Citi Mobile Challenge is a great example of this,” said Harjeet Baura. Other collaborators and partners on the Citi Mobile Challenge Asia Pacific are AIA, Allianz, Baidu, CIIE, Google India, Hong Kong Science and Technology Park, MasterCard, Microsoft Ventures, Thomson Reuters and Wipro Technologies.

The Citi Mobile Challenge Asia Pacific was launched in August and short-listed developers will present at demo days in Bengaluru on November 3, Singapore November 6, Sydney November 10 and Hong Kong on November 12.

Citi Mobile Challenge has been traveling the globe over the last 16 months to connect with the FinTech community, unearth innovation and reimagine the way the world banks. Citi is excited to announce that Citi Mobile Challenge Asia Pacific has received record-breaking participation with 1,900 registrations from 376 cities around the world.

“This recognition by our clients and partners that the Citi Mobile Challenge is fostering the development of the next generation of FinTech solutions serves as great validation of our efforts to accelerate and lead digital innovation,” said Citi’s Anand Selva, Head of Consumer Banking Asia Pacific. “More importantly, the platform of development tools the companies will make available to Challenge participants will go a long way towards helping them turn their creative ideas into innovative realities.”

“From credit cards to ATMs, Citi has a history of embracing new technologies to transform how it serves clients. Asia is home to a fast-growing FinTech community, and this strong support from partners for the initiative will help accelerate and uncover new and exciting opportunities for Citi to develop transformational approaches to banking,” said Francisco Aristeguieta, Citi’s Asia Pacific CEO.

Citi will make available a variety of APIs from the bank and other leading financial and technology companies to help developers create real-world innovations that could function with existing Citi technology. A panel of industry experts and financial technology leaders will evaluate the solutions at each event. Finalists compete for an opportunity to take their technologies into production with Citi’s support, a share of US$100,000 in cash awards, and a suite of services from Citi Mobile Challenge sponsors, including the opportunity to participate in accelerator programs and receive mentoring, office space and investment.

Citi Mobile Challenge Asia Pacific follows successful launches in EMEA earlier this year and in Latin America and the U.S. in 2014. Across the three programs, Citi received nearly 2,000 submissions from more than 100 countries and hosted events in Buenos Aires, Bogotá, Silicon Valley, New York, Miami, Nairobi, Jerusalem, Warsaw and London. Citi is currently working with several top innovations from previous Challenges to launch pilot solutions for consumer and business clients in various markets.

“These partnerships will help Citi further deepen our engagement with developers and connect directly with new innovation hubs to integrate new solutions into our digital business in markets all over the world. The Mobile Challenge in Asia will help Citi uncover fresh approaches to expanding financial inclusion through technology,” added Jorge Ruiz, Digital Acceleration Global Program Head, Citi.