For immediate release; contacts at end of email

Citibank Announces Installation of New York’s First Talking ATMs

New York, May 22 -- Citibank today announced the installation of New York’s 
first five talking ATMs.  The ATMs, using text-to-speech technology, 
deliver audible information privately through an earphone so that persons 
who are blind, or who may otherwise have difficulty reading an ATM screen 
in print, can independently use the ATM.  The five New York machines, along 
with five Citibank talking ATMs in California, are the beginning of a 
sixteen-month plan unveiled today to install a talking ATM at each of 
Citibank’s Financial Centers and its ATM centers across the country.   The 
machines will be upgraded, improved versions of talking ATMs originally 
installed by Citibank in November, 1999.  Exact locations of the machines 
are listed at the end of this announcement.

Citibank’s announcement was hailed by members of the blind community who 
have worked with Citibank on the talking ATM project.  Steven Mendelsohn, a 
blind  technology policy analyst and disability rights advocate who lives 
in New York, has been working with the bank for several years on the 
talking ATM initiative: “Citibank’s agreement to make ATMs fully accessible 
to all customers, including customers with visual impairments, represents 
another important milestone on the path to full social participation and 
economic opportunity for Americans with disabilities,”  he 
said.  “Citibank’s willingness to recognize and implement what technology 
makes possible should serve as an example to financial institutions and 
other businesses across the country.”

“These machines utilize state of the art text-to-speech technology to 
ensure full access to persons who cannot read an ATM screen,” said Kathy 
Martinez, Deputy Director of the World Institute on Disability, an 
international disability research and policy agency in Oakland, California, 
“and Citibank deserves tremendous praise for today’s announcement.”  These 
thoughts were echoed by Lori Scharff, President of the American Council of 
the Blind of New York, Inc., who praised Citibank’s national commitment to 
cutting edge, accessible technology.

“Citibank wanted to fully understand the needs of visually impaired 
consumers in order to provide a superior technology solution for those 
needs,” said Maura Markus, President of Citibanking North 
America.  “Representatives from the visually impaired community provided 
invaluable assistance and support to help us meet that goal, and we look 
forward to working with them as we implement our program across the U.S.”

The agreement announced today resulted from a collaborative effort that 
began when members of the blind community approached Citibank to discuss 
how the company’s ATMs could be programmed to communicate audibly with 
blind and low vision consumers.

In addition to Mendelsohn and Martinez, the California Council of the 
Blind, an affiliate of the American Council of the Blind, with 46 chapters 
across California, actively participated in the discussions with the 
bank.   Lawyers for the blind community were Linda M. Dardarian of the 
Oakland law firm of Saperstein, Goldstein, Demchak & Baller, Berkeley 
disability rights lawyer Lainey Feingold, and the Berkeley-based Disability 
Rights Education and Defense Fund.

CITIBANK’S FIRST NEW YORK TALKING ATM LOCATIONS

·       717 Avenue of the Americas at West 23rd Street, Manhattan
·       460 Park Avenue at East 57th Street, Manhattan
·       2861 Broadway at West 111th Street, Manhattan
·       181 Montague Street,  Brooklyn
·       95-12 63rd Road, Rego Park, Queens

CITIBANK’S FIRST CALIFORNIA TALKING ATM LOCATIONS:
·       8800 S. Sepulveda Blvd, Los Angeles
·       2566 Overland Avenue, West Los Angeles
·       2323 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley
·       260 California Street, San Francisco
·       780 Laurel Street, San Carlos

Citigroup (NYSE:C), the preeminent global financial services company, 
provides some 120 million consumers, corporations, governments and 
institutions in more than 100 countries with a broad range of financial 
products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and 
investment banking, insurance, securities brokerage and asset 
management.  Major brand names under Citigroup’s trademark umbrella are 
Citibank, CitiFinancial, Primerica, Salomon Smith Barney, and 
Travelers.  Additional information may be found at: www.citigroup.com.

###

Media Contacts:

For the blind community

Lainey Feingold 510-848-8125
Law Office of Elaine B. Feingold
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Linda Dardarian 510-763-9800
Saperstein, Goldstein, Demchak & Baller
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For Citibank:

Mark Rodgers  718-248-1092
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Kristina Faraclas  212-819-4831
Edelman PR Worldwide
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