Citibank says that 20,000 consumers have signed up for its online account aggregation service, My Accounts, following its launch last year, with subscriber numbers doubling since the UK banks were added back into the service in June.
UK banks originally refused to co-operate with the Citi system, citing consumer privacy and data protection issues. Citibank amended the operation of the service to overcome rival bank objections in June, at a stroke adding 32 new online banks to the service.
The service, which is available free to UK consumers, allows users to consolidate account statement from multiple institutions for viewing over a single Web page or PDA screen.
Citi says that UK users are more active than their US counterparts and tend to focus on lifestyle management sites like Hotmail BA Exec Club, Air Miles and Yahoo Mail. The top five services aggregated by My Account are: British Airways Executive Club; American Express; Hotmail; Egg Credit Cards; and, MBNA Credit Cards.
Sanjeeb Chaudhuri, group managing director, Citibank International, says: "For many customers the service has become an invaluable lifestyle management tool, simplifying and organising their online needs."
Only Egg among the UK banks has launched a similar account aggregation service, despite repeated analyst forecasts about the value of the technology in recruiting and retaining customers. Citi says that 65% of all My Accounts users are new to the bank.