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Citigroup's Pam Habner is leading her bank into the fiercely competitive and lucrative high-end credit card market against giant competitors like American Express, Capital One and JPMorganChase.
"I've been in financial services for more than 30 years and the competition has always been fierce but today it is at a new level," said Habner, head of branded cards and lending for Citigroup, noting the rush of new and relaunched premium cards that are entering the market.
Habner played a major role in the launch of Strata Elite, Citi's first card for high-end consumers in four years. This comes as Chase recently refreshed its Sapphire card with new travel, fitness and experience perks, and higher fees, and Amex plans a refresh of its Platinum card for 2025. Strata Elite has an annual fee of $595, less than Sapphire's $795 and Platinum's $695.
Citi drew on analysis and research of its consumers when designing the new premium card, landing on a strategy that enables consumers to "customize" their own card rewards, she said.
Citi's Strata Elite includes perks such as a $200 splurge credit for retailers such as Best Buy and Live Nation, a $300 annual hotel benefit and a $200 yearly credit for booking through Blacklane.
The incentives focus on "experiences," addressing a trend in high-end consumer cards toward rewards linked to travel and entertainment in addition to airline points toward future flights.
"The hotel credit can be used at a hotel of their choice," Habner said. "Our customers told us they wanted to get real rewards and not bells and whistles."
Under Habner's leadership, Citi has become the third largest issuer in the U.S. general purpose credit card market. Habner's portfolio includes more than 35 million consumer accounts and leads a team of more than 630 employees who grew loans by 9% to $110 billion in 2024, along with record sales of more than $500 million and revenue of nearly $11 billion. During the first quarter of 2025, revenue grew more than 11% from the prior year.
Beyond the premium card, other recent highlights for Habner included a 10-year extension of Citi's 37-year co-brand partnership with American Airlines, replacing Barclays to become the airline's sole issuing partner. Habner also established a strategic alliance between the Citi Thank you and AAadvantage card program. The airline said the alliance would add 10% annual growth and $10 billion in revenue.
The move will "create more opportunities to welcome new card members, deepening our connection with our existing ones and make our co-branded card the clear favorite in everyone's wallets," Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser said in a note.
Habner also renegotiated the extension of Citi's co-brand partnership with Costco, refreshing the Costco Anywhere Card and growing new accounts 23% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2025. Habner additionally led the launch of Citi Flex Pay on Apple Pay, making Citi an early adopter of installment lending on Apple Pay.
Fraser recently appointed Habner to Citi's Operating Team in 2024, where she helps shape the bank's strategic direction and interacts with the Board of Directors.
