Citibank is converting its existing Visa-branded Citi PremierMiles card into Mastercard, and effective immediately, the card will be known as the Citi PremierMiles Mastercard.

According to Citibank, the Citi PremierMiles Mastercard will be issued to all new successful applications from 1 March 2020. While there is no indication from Citibank Malaysia yet, it appears that the Citi PremierMiles Mastercard is the first in the list for a full migration from Visa to Mastercard, based on an existing ten-year partnership between Citi and Mastercard that was signed back in 2015, which sees Citi progressively moving its consumer credit and debit cards worldwide into the Mastercard network.

Based on the partnership, the only Citi credit cards in Malaysia that will likely not be converted to Mastercard are the Citi Shell (co-branded), CitiBusiness (Company Underwriting), Business Signature, and the Citi Travel Account – the latter three cards being corporate cards that are not part of the partnership.

In a statement posted on its website, Citi says that “Mastercard has been core to our business for decades, enabling effortless, secure payments for millions of Citi cardholders around the world. With the growth of this partnership, we are converting Citi credit cards to Mastercard.”

For the new Citi PremierMiles Mastercard, Citibank will not be making any changes to the card’s features and benefits, which are:

• Earn PremierMiles that never expire and at the same rate as before (1 PremierMile for every RM3 spent locally, and 2 PremierMiles for every RM3 spent in foreign currencies and selected online travel merchants)
• Up to 8x complimentary access to 30 Plaza Premium Lounge across 19 airports in 9 countries and territories
• Complimentary KLIA 1 airport limo ride home with 3x foreign spend receipts

One change that will make an appearance on the Citi PremierMiles Mastercard (and we expect on the rest of the upcoming Mastercard-branded Citi cards) is access to Mastercard Priceless Cities, a list of curated activities in cities around the world that’s unique to the destination and exclusive only to Mastercard credit cardholders.

In an FAQ page, Citi reiterated that this change will not bring any meaningful difference to existing cardholders. Current cardholders do not need to do anything, and can still use their cards as usual, and upon card expiry they will be issued with Mastercard-branded ones. Rewards points earned on the Visa card will also automatically moved to the new Mastercard. There will be no fees or costs for the cardholder.

More details on the Mastercard migration can be found on Citi’s website.

• TAGS:
• Citi
• Citi Business Signature
• Citi Mastercard
• Citi PremierMiles
• Citi PremierMiles Mastercard
• Citi Shell
• Citi Travel Account
• Citibank
• Citibank Mastercard
• CitiBusiness