With today’s launch from Citibank (press release), the big four U.S. banks now all support text banking (Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, and Wells Fargo) (see note 1).

With these four giants on board, text banking turns into table stakes going forward, i.e., a must-have feature. Those without it have a tangible deficiency that will cost them customers, especially in the heavy-texting youth market.

The Citibank service is read-only offering Bal, Stmt, and Hist commands sent to its shortcode MyCiti (692484) (see second screenshot for command list). It also includes the all-important Stop function to turn off all text messages and alerts. Chase Bank recently became the first major U.S. bank to offer text-based funds transfers.

Citibank isn’t making a big deal of the new option on its website. The text option is now positioned on the mobile page with equal billing with the bank’s iPhone and (other) smartphone options (see first screenshot below).

Citibank mobile landing page (link, 22 June 2010)

Text banking page (link)

Notes:
1. Update June 23: While BofA and Citi added text banking this year, Wells
and Chase have offered it since 2007.
2. For more on mobile banking and payments, see the most recent issue from Online Banking Report.