[SINGAPORE] UOB aims to grow its Asean retail card customer base to 10 million by 2027, through more partnerships in the entertainment space.
The Singapore-based bank doubled the number of its retail card customers in 2023 after acquiring Citigroup’s retail franchise in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam that year. As at 2024, UOB has 8.4 million such customers, of which 2.4 million are from Singapore.
As the largest regional bank in terms of retail cards, UOB leads in Visa and Mastercard credit card billings across Asean, and in debit for Visa.
Jacquelyn Tan, head of group personal finance services at UOB, emphasised the bank’s focus on growing within the Asean region, which is seeing rising affluence and purchasing power.
“We aim to address customers’ needs through strong value propositions, cashback, and have been consistently serving miles (through the cards),” she said.
The bank saw card billings surge 35 per cent week on week when four of the six The Eras Tour concerts by Taylor Swift took place in Singapore last March.
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In response to queries from The Business Times, Tan said that the bank did not see disengagements in UOB cards after the end of the big event.
“We’ve attracted quite a bit of new, young customers over the past year and have seen continued spending and engagement, because we don’t only serve that one category, like (entertainment). We have other offerings such as dining, travel and shopping that are relevant to them.”
Additionally, there has been a greater increase in spending among the younger generation as compared with that of the bank’s overall retail card customer base. Billings grew by 34 per cent on year in 2024 among those aged 35 and below, while overall growth was at 14 per cent.
Since the launch of UOB’s entertainment pillar in 2023, the bank has partnered major entertainment acts, including the G.E.M. concert in January and the Broadway hit Wicked that will begin on Mar 19.
Although UOB does not have a direct partnership with Lady Gaga’s upcoming concert, it is confident that it can benefit, as Mastercard is one of the main partners for the event, noted Tan. “As the largest Visa and Mastercard issuer in the region, we have the scale and strength of our customer base.”
The bank’s foray into the entertainment industry also had an impact on its other key pillars such as shopping, dining and travel, which has helped drive up tourism receipts as well.
UOB had a 14 per cent year-on-year growth in transactions with hotel and dining partners in Singapore in 2024, with visitors from Indonesia spending the most.
Spending on dining saw the greatest rise, with an increment of 21 per cent; that for travel grew by 17 per cent and shopping saw an upside of 9 per cent.
“What we do goes beyond just the show; we will have some local promotions and deals implemented when our UOB card customers arrive here in Singapore to give them a holistic experience,” added Tan.
