SKT, Citigroup Sign Joint Venture Deal

SK Telecom Co., South Korea's leading mobile carrier, said Thursday it has signed a deal with Citigroup Inc. to form a joint venture for mobile financial services in the U.S.

Under the deal signed in San Francisco on Wednesday, the 50-50 joint venture, dubbed Mobile Money Ventures, will be capitalized at US$16 million, SK Telecom said.

The companies plan to commence trial services such as mobile banking in major U.S. cities in the second half and later expand services into other areas including stock trading by 2009.

"Growth potential (of the joint venture) is sufficient as the mobile financial service market in the U.S. is currently limited to providing simple tasks," SK Telecom said in a statement. (Yonhap)