Citi Bahrain ATMs to accept cardless mobile withdrawals through tokenization

By Leandra Monteiro

BENEFIT, a FinTech and electronic financial transactions service in the Kingdom has announced that cardless ATM withdrawal is available as an option from Citi Bahrain ATMs through the process of Tokenization since March 2021.

The new cardless mobile withdrawal service with Benefit Pay will be offered by Citi Bahrain one that doesn’t require users to swipe or insert their debit cards. Instead, users withdraw the cash they need using smartphone technology. This technique has been designed to enhance security and avoid online breaches, allow for faster transactions.

Citi Bahrain is also currently using tokenization for their Tap & Go services, to accept contactless cards to withdraw money by using near-field communication technology (NFC) only requiring the user to place their smartphone next to a POS machine to complete their contactless payment.

BENEFIT’s Assistant General Manager, IT, Riyad Almaraj shared, “The BENEFIT Company takes pride in being the first wallet to offer cashless withdrawals through Citi Bahrain’s ATMs, as we are constantly striving to make electronic transactions more efficient through our innovative methods. This option will reduce the necessity of carrying around a debit card, and we anticipate this  being available at other banks as well when they follow Citi Bahrain’s lead to promote a cardless ecosystem and increase financial inclusion in the Kingdom.”

Citi Bahrain’s Consumer Bank Head, Christoph Geidner said, “Citi Bahrain is proud to be the first International bank to introduce cashless withdrawals in March 2021 to follow other firsts we introduced in the market. Our approach to switch customers to digital solutions began a long time ago and we will continue to seek innovative ways to offer our suite of products and services using the latest digital technology to make banking for our customers more efficient faster and safe at the same time”.