Citi, Grab launch co-branded credit card, 1st in SE Asia

MANILA, Philippines — Citi Philippines has expanded its partnership with ride-hailing firm Grab with the launch of their first and exclusive co-branded credit card in the Philippines and  the first in Southeast Asia.

Manoj Varma, consumer bank head at Citi Philippines, said the partnership expands an ongoing collaboration between Citi’s consumer banking business and Grab since 2016.

“We are delighted that the Philippines will be the first market to launch the Citi Grab co-brand credit card. We are excited to work with Grab to offer the best credit card value proposition to Grab’s all-digital consumer base,” Varma said.

Citi has been participating in Grab’s financing round through Citi Ventures, the bank’s venture capitalist arm.

In 2016, Citi and Grab announced their first partnership across six markets in Southeast Asia, allowing Citi cardholders to use their earned points and miles to pay for rides on the Grab platform.

The partnership has been systematically widened to include all of Grab’s services including incentives for topping up the GrabPay wallet, to gifts and cashback benefits.

Varma said the co-brand credit card would allow both companies to benefit from each other’s respective strengths as it would offer Grab users credit card benefits and rewards to Citi’s cardholders.

“Catering to mobile-first and always-on consumers who continuously seek better offers, the Citi Grab credit card promises cardholders a life in the fast lane with access to exclusive offers and rewards, better value on every spend, and greater convenience,” he added.

Varma said cardholders would enjoy 10 times points earning on Grab spend until June 30 next year as well as priority booking benefits and dedicated customer support to Platinum Tier upgrade for the first six months.

Cardholders, he added, would also earn three times points on dining, entertainment and online subscriptions, while all other spend would earn one point for every P30 spend.

To top it all, Varma said applicants would also get 12 free Grab rides upon sign up, equivalent to P2,500 worth of GrabPay credits upon spending the first P10,000 within 60 days of using the card.

They are also entitled to free Grab vouchers worth P2,000 when they use the card to top up their GrabPay wallet with at least P1,000, while membership fees for principal and supplementary cards are waived for the first year.

Huey Tyng Ooi, managing director for Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore at GrabPay, said there is great synergy between Citi and Grab.

“The Citi Grab credit card is a natural next step as we create more value for our digital first, always-on GrabPay users. This will bring us one step further in realizing our vision of becoming a leading everyday supper app in Southeast Asia,” she added.

She said the Citi Grab co-brand credit card would next be introduced in Thailand.

She added GrabPay maintains a high adoption rate, with a 130 percent jump in monthly active users since the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas awarded the company a license to operate as an electronic money issuer.