To expand its Asia Pacific regional reward redemption program, Pay with Points, Citi announced that it is enabling credit cardholders to spend their rewards points and miles to pay for a Spotify premium account.
The Spotify Pay with Points arrangement covers Citi cardholders in Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The regional partnership allows Citi customers to redeem their points directly with a merchant.
Citi launched its Pay with Points program in March 2017 and is now live in nine countries across Asia Pacific. Companies that support Pay with Points include Grab, Lazada, Expedia, Shell, Jetstar, Thai Airways and Starbucks.
“Our customers are able to use their points and miles to make payments for their purchases across an increasing number of partners and merchants, giving them more benefit on their spend and added flexibility and convenience in the way they choose to use their credit card rewards,” said Sergio Zanatti, head of cards & unsecured loans for Citi in Asia Pacific, in a press release.
The Pay with Points program has seen strong adoption in selected Asian markets since its rollout, according to Citi. In April, Citi’s Hong Kong market reported that close to half of its reward point redemptions are handled through the Pay with Points platform.
In the increasingly competitive world of global credit cards, issuers are being pushed to deliver incremental value to their rewards programs by enabling their cardholders to spend them directly on merchant websites. This integration provides an increasingly hassle-free way to spend points and increase cardholder engagement. Recently,
