Customers can also enhance their ability to stay on top of their outgoings during the traditionally busy Christmas and New Year period by opting to receive personalised account updates.

The Citibank Alerting Service can be set up quickly and easily and enables customers to monitor all their Citibank account activity, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Citibank Alerting Service is available to customers by text message, email, or both; and at a time that suits them - automatically, daily, weekly or monthly.

The standard service helps customers to keep in control of their finances by sending customers weekly updates on account balances, notification of going overdrawn or exceeding overdraft limits, and for peace of mind, automatically alerts customers if a debit of £5,000 or more has been taken from their account. With personalised account updates subscribers can select to receive daily balance updates, notification of deposits and debits above a level set by them, and an early warning of when they are approaching their overdraft limit.

Tobias van der Meer, Marketing Director, Citi UK Consumer Group, comments: "This new service gives customers enhanced security against possible fraudulent transactions on their account and, unlike competitor products Citi offers consumers the ability to choose the time an alert is received. We expect an increasing number of UK consumers to use their mobile phone and the internet to bank on their terms, rather than through traditional banking channels. Already, the Citibank Alerting Service is live in over 20 countries globally."