Methods of payments have changed a lot since the days of the old. Gone are the days when you had to stand in a never-ending line just to pay your telephone bill. Today, all you have to do is press a few buttons on your mobile phone, and voila! Your payment is done! Big players like Paymate, NGpay and MChek have long since established a monopoly over the market, but now, the bankers have finally stepped up to the plate. And boy can they hit!

Not too long after RBI revealed the mobile banking regulations, Citibank announced the arrival of Citi Mobile, which is a mobile application, which can be downloaded off the Internet. Citi Mobile provides a one stop banking solution for people who are on the move. You will be able to pay your bills, make credit card payments, request for cheque books, send money and do a lot more with this facility.

There will be some standard requirements in order to access Citi Mobile. You will need to have a Citibank Banking or Credit Card account, an active Internet PIN and a Java enabled cellular phone with GPRS. Of course, your mobile number will also need to be registered with the bank.

To download the service, all you will have to do is send a text message with MBANK along with the last four digits of your debit card or credit card number to 52484. As soon as this is done, you should receive a confirmation message with the URL, which you will need to download to your phone before using the service.

Another great thing about this service is that it is completely secure. All interaction is https secure and encrypted using 128-bit SSL. Also, no customer data will be stored on the mobile phone, which makes this an absolutely safe channel.