Through the purchase of a 12.5% share and by becoming part owner of Mobilly, Citadele Bank gains a significant influence over the company’s capital alongside Mobilly’s existing majority shareholders. The partnership will allow Citadele and Mobilly to implement new innovations and offer clients convenient and exciting mobile payment services.
United in the field of innovative payments, Mobilly has always offered mobile payment services, while Citadele has introduced a range of innovations to the Latvian banking sector. Technological innovations introduced by Citadele include the integration of e-talons transport tickets into bank cards; the replacement of code cards with the bank’s mobile app; mobile payments using phones and payment wristbands; as well as the use of biometric solutions in the mobile app, giving clients the opportunity to log in and confirm payments using FaceID and fingerprints. The collaboration of both businesses will lead to the development of an increasingly wide range of mobile payments, offering the Latvian public even more opportunities to pay for services via mobile devices and creating a completely new payment experience.
Mobilly Chairman of the Board Valdis Bergs: “With this deal, a new phase of development begins at Mobilly, of which the biggest winners will be our clients. Through our collaboration with Citadele Bank, we will have the opportunity to develop even more modern and advanced financial technology solutions. This deal will not affect our partnership with existing clients. We will continue to provide better and more convenient services while strengthening our leadership position in customer service.”
Citadele Bank Chairman of the Board Guntis Beļavskis: “Citadele’s mission is to modernise the banking sector and give our clients more opportunities - to make payments more conveniently and quickly, and to make everyday life easier. By making this investment into the development of Mobilly, we have agreed to create new solutions for clients of both Mobilly and Citadele. These new solutions would make existing services more cost-effective, offering new opportunities and benefits to the clients of both businesses. The development teams of both Mobilly and Citadele understand each other well, have agreed on a joint vision, and are currently awaiting a final confirmation from the Competition Council to be able to begin work on these exciting projects.”
Mobilly offers mobile payments for goods and services within Latvia, was registered in 2003, and has a capital stock of 476,860 Euro. By amount in assets, Citadele Bank was the fourth largest bank in Latvia as of the end of June 2018.