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While there’s no deadline to switch cards, UnionBank president and chief executive officer Edwin Bautista said the “absolute drop date” would likely be the end of the first quarter of 2024. Avoiding a higher attrition rate among Citi customers meant that UnionBank had to match Citi’s strong rewards program, which had deals across all of Asia. But Bautista said the spending paid off since UnionBank kept most of its acquired credit card customers.
“The marketing spend alone is double what normally Citi spends…. But we’re being now rewarded by a much higher growth rate,” he said. “The dollar that you invest today will pay out in the next five years.”After acquiring the Citi consumer portfolio, UnionBank is now part of the country’s top three credit card issuers in terms of usage and spends. It also currently handles about 1.5 million active credit cards.