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Citigroup, the biggest US bank, and South Korea's SK Telecom launched a joint venture to offer mobile financial services, investing $8 million each, a Reuters report said.
The Reuters report quoted the two companies in a statement as saying that the joint venture, Mobile Money Ventures, will offer a trial service to Citi customers in select Asian and North American markets in the second half of 2008.
Mobile Money Ventures, to be based in San Francisco, aims to provide broader banking services on cell phone, with new features such as near field communication-based payments, stock management and advertisements, the Reuters report said.
NFC technology is already used widely, employing dedicated cards which are swiped across a reader which deducts credit for payments, the report added.