Singapore-based everyday app platform Grab sees long-term growth in its partnership with multinational bank Citigroup as they launch co-branded credit cards to tap Southeast Asia’s burgeoning Internet economy, which is projected to amount to over $240 billion by 2025.
The Citi-Grab cards were first issued in the Philippines on Tuesday, and will soon be available in Thailand and then rolled out in other Southeast Asian markets.
“We believe that the way moving forward is to harness the benefits of the digital economy and, as such, Grab will always put prime importance to innovations in the spaces that it operates—be it transport, food delivery, parcel services or payments,” said Grab Philippines President Brian Cu.
Grab has roughly around 16 million customers in Asia, a large percentage of which are smartphone users but belong to the under-banked population. To address this gap, Grab is aggressively introducing digital-payment solutions under GrabPay in sectors like e-commerce and ride-hailing, as well as a suite of financial services geared toward small- and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups in the region.
The co-brand card partnership expands an ongoing collaboration between Grab and Citi’s Citi Ventures, the bank’s venture capitalist arm.
Both firms announced their first partnership in 2016 across six markets in Southeast Asia that enabled Citi cardholders to use their earned points and miles to pay for rides on the Grab platform.
“Partnering with the best companies like Citi allows Grab, as an everyday super app, to offer more reliable, convenient and rewarding services to its users,” said Cu.
He added that the cards will provide significant and exclusive benefits for cardholders. They will receive Grab points on each spend using the app, and will receive three times more points from Citi on online subscriptions, and dining and entertainment spend.
A platinum tier upgrade, which will give cardholders priority booking benefits and dedicated customer support for the first six months upon card issuance, is also included. Cardholders will get 12 complimentary Grab rides upon spending P10,000 within 60 days of getting the card.
Membership fees for principal and supplementary cards are also waived for the first year.
“Citi has been a partner since 2016, and there is great synergy between both Citi and Grab. The Citi-Grab credit card is a natural next step as we create more value for our users. With [this initiative], cardholders will be introduced to a whole new level of access, value and convenience. This will bring us one step further in realizing our vision of becoming the leading everyday super app in SEA,” said Huey Tyng Ooi, managing director of GrabPay Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.