With the acquisition of Citi Consumer business worth RM15 billion now approved by Bank Negara, UOB Malaysia will have to look into the nitty-gritty of the business and sort out issues including the deteriorated credit card service delivered by Citi.
The reported RM5 billion Citi credit card has always been a prominent part of the bank’s business having been established very early on in Malaysia, however, since the announcement of exiting cropped, the service quality has been dropping with many opting to move to another service provider.
One user who has been with the bank since 1990, told BusinessToday that the Citi brand no longer holds the premium badge that it used to. “I used to be proud of using Citi, not many people can get the cards as its exclusive, and the personal service was impeccable. Even though the reward system was excellent, where I can redeem high-end products with my points, now the points are ridiculous and worthless”
Undoubtedly, the Citi Credit card has lost its lustre with local banks upping their ante and giving better service and reward systems for their customers. Waiving annual fees for life is now the norm while Citi still insists on charging only to reverse upon making the dreaded call to a customer service line that’s impossible to reach.
A quick check on the bank’s Facebook page highlights some of the plight of its customers, including unauthorised transactions, difficulty in reaching customer service, regular system issues, and no Apple Pay despite being an American-owned bank!
The issues are deep and need structural fixing, can UOB Malaysia undertake such a mammoth operation and give confidence to the millions of Citi card users or will the migration continue? Although UOB has a strong pedigree in banking services, especially in loans, mortgages, and corporate banking, its credit card business in Malaysia is relatively small. Taking over the big department could be a hot potato, as most Citi credit card users do not have an account with Citibank and only use the cards, UOB could see this as an opportunity to upsell their other products or services but at the same time, need to be cognisant that these card holders are also unhappy.
Commenting on the acquisition Ng Wei Wei, Chief Executive Officer of UOB Malaysia, said the acquisition will scale UOB’s retail business with an expanded portfolio and partner ecosystem. While En Usman Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer, Citi Malaysia, said, I assure its consumer banking business and wealth customers that the transition to UOB will be smooth and that they will continue to benefit from services and products similar to those they currently enjoy from Citi.
Citi seems to sound glad to offload the burden and focus on its core business, while UOB looks like it does not know what it is getting into, or maybe they do and will turn things around.
In the meantime, Citi card users would want to consider converting those points to any cheap goods available, just in case.
