(March 20, 2002) - Citigroup and Microsoft Corp. announced a broad strategic agreement in which Citigroup businesses will use Microsoft® .NET technologies, including Passport and .NET Alerts, to enhance customer access to Citigroup's products on the Internet. By using these new technologies, Citigroup will offer its customers new levels of convenience and choice to access and navigate multiple Web sites.

Citi Cards, the largest provider of credit cards in the United States, with more than 94 million accounts, will be the first Citigroup business to offer its online users streamlined access services using Passport. Microsoft's Passport system will allow customers visiting Passport-enabled Citigroup sites to be automatically identified after signing in to Passport. Customers will then be authenticated by Citigroup using Citigroup passwords before being granted access to personal information or being able to conduct financial transactions. Customers also will be able to gain access to other Passport-enabled sites operated by Microsoft or third parties without having to enter any further user IDs or passwords.

Citi Card customers will also be able to use .NET Alerts, Microsoft's instant messaging-based notifications service. .NET Alerts lets users sign up to be notified of important events such as when a payment is due, when a credit limit has been reached or when a customer's statement is available. The .NET Alerts service sends messages to a user's desktop, cell phone, mobile device, or e-mail address - based on the user's preferences. When online, the user can then click on that alert and be directed back to the Citigroup site for more detailed information. Alerts services will allow Citigroup customers to be notified as soon as important events occur, and to receive only the alerts they want, when and where they want them.