‘c2it’ will be available to MSN network users

Even as a slew of small online-payment ventures has fallen by the wayside, Citigroup Inc. has inked a new agreement with Microsoft Corp. that will give tens of millions of users of Microsoft’s Internet services easy access to sending money via e-mail. UNDER THE TERMS of the agreement, Citigroup, the nation’s largest financial-services company, will offer its “c2it” online money-transfer system, branded with Microsoft’s MSN name, to users of the MSN network of Web services, including online auction and shopping services as well as the Hotmail free e-mail service. (MSNBC is a Microsoft-NBC joint venture.) About 230 million users visit MSN monthly, the companies said. Many users will be preapproved to use the service to cut down on the hassle of extensive online application forms. The agreement also allows for Citigroup to advertise on Microsoft Internet services. Financial terms weren’t available. But Microsoft is aggressively going after advertising deals on MSN; just last week, it signed a five-year Internet-access pact with Qwest Communications International Inc. through which Qwest will spend $100 million on MSN advertising.