The day of reckoning is almost here. In 2022, Citi announced the sale of its Indian retail business to Axis Bank, and the transaction was consummated the following year. In the meantime, Citi continued to operate the business for Axis Bank under a licensing agreement. Now, Axis Bank is ready to migrate the Citi customers to its systems and out of the Citi paradigm. The date is set for July 15, 2024.

At LiveFromALounge, we’ve covered some essential aspects of this transition in June 2024:

• Citi PremierMiles to be migrated to Axis Bank Horizon Credit Card
• Citi Prestige to transition to Axis Bank Olympus Credit Card soon

Important things to note about the Citi Migration to Axis Bank

• The migration of all your Citi relationships, including card(s), will be completed by July 15, 2024. Upon completion of the migration, the same Credit Card number will be retained, but the feature set will transition to the new Axis Bank card(s). The Citi-branded card(s) will continue working seamlessly until the new Axis Bank card(s) are sent out, which will be a few months after the cutover.
• Here are the details of the transition to various new products in the Axis Bank network:
  • Citi Rewards Credit Card will transition to Axis Bank REWARDS Credit Card.
  • IndianOil Citi Credit Card INDIANOIL will transition to AXIS BANK PREMIUM Credit Card.
  • Citi PremierMiles Credit Card will transition to Axis Bank HORIZON Credit Card.
  • Citi Cash Back Credit Card will transition to Axis Bank CASHBACK Credit Card.
  • First Citizen Citi Credit Card will transition to AXIS BANK SHOPPERS STOP Credit Card.
  • Citi Prestige Credit Card will transition to Axis Bank OLYMPUS Credit Card.
  • Citi Business Credit Card will transition to Axis Bank REWARDS Credit Card.
  • IndianOil CitiBusiness Credit Card will transition to INDIANOIL AXIS BANK PREMIUM Credit Card.
  • IKEA Family Credit Card by Citi will transition to IKEA Family Credit Card by Axis Bank.

What happens to your Citi Points on migration to Axis Bank?

As of migration day, all unredeemed reward points will be migrated and converted to Axis EDGE Reward Points or EDGE Miles, depending on the product. Axis Bank insists that the monetary value of these points remains the same. The points accumulated until the migration date will never expire. However, points earned post-migration will expire after three years. For example, points earned on August 10, 2024, will expire on August 10, 2027.

Points earned post migration will also expire if you have made no transaction or no reward redemptions and have not logged in to your EDGE Rewards website in 365 days.

Here is the change of points across all Citi Cards in the coming days:

• Citi Rewards Credit Card’s 1 Reward Point = 1.75 EDGE Rewards Points on Axis Bank REWARDS Credit Card.
• IndianOil Citi Credit Card 1 Turbo Point =  1 EDGE Mile of INDIAN OIL AXIS BANK PREMIUM Credit Card
• Citi PremierMiles Credit Card 1 PremierMile = 0.45 EDGE Miles of Axis Bank HORIZON Credit Card
• Citi Prestige Credit Card 1 Reward Point = 1 EDGE Mile of Axis Bank OLYMPUS Credit Card
• Citi Business Credit Card 1 Reward Point = 2.5 EDGE REWARDS Points of Axis Bank REWARDS Credit Card
• CitiBusiness IOC Credit Card INDIANOIL AXIS BANK PREMIUM Credit Card 1 Turbo Point = 1 EDGE Mile
• IKEA Family Credit Card by Citi IKEA Family Credit Card by Axis Bank 1 Reward Point = 1 EDGE REWARD Points

Remember, while the currency name is EDGE Rewards or EDGE Miles, in typical Axis Bank style, there are carveouts for what points will convert into how much. For instance, a Citi Prestige / Axis Bank Olympus Credit Card will transfer as 1 EDGE Mile = 4 Air miles. A handy calculator shows the value of the transition of reward points from the Citi to the Axis ecosystem. You can check it out here.

Here is how Axis Bank will operate in terms of the sequencing of the redemption of points/miles:

• After migration, all your migrated Citi points will be treated as if earned in Axis Bank on the migration day. Points earned directly in Axis Bank will retain their original earned dates.
• Suppose you are only a Citibank customer with no existing Axis Bank relationship until migration day. Your Citi points will be redeemed first, followed by Axis Bank points earned after migration.
• If you are an existing Axis Bank and Citibank customer, then points earned in Axis Bank before migration day will be redeemed first, followed by Citi points. Any reward points earned after the migration day across all your cards will be redeemed as per their respective earn dates.

What happens to your Credit Limits?

Post-migration, you will have a single aggregate credit limit across all your Citi-branded and Axis Bank Credit Card(s) you hold currently. This limit will be the sum of the limits on your open Citi-branded Credit Card(s) and the Axis Bank aggregate credit limit. This aggregate limit will also be available on each card you hold post-migration.

For instance, if you have an Axis Bank Credit Card consolidated limit of INR 500K, a Citi Prestige for INR 900K and a Citi PremierMiles for INR 200K, your consolidated limit will become INR 1600K after the consolidation. The only difference is that now, this is a floating limit across all your cards.

Things to take note of concerning transfer partners

Coming to the rewards partners, here are the partners that continue to stay and the ones that leave in the future:

• Accor ALL (New)
• AirAsia Rewards (New)
• Air Canada Aeroplan (New)
• Air France KLM Flying Blue (Existing)
• Air India Flying Returns (Existing)
• Air Vistara Club Vistara(New)
• Ethiopian Airlines Sheba Miles (New)
• Etihad Airways Etihad Guest (Existing)
• IHG One Rewards (Existing)
• ITC Green Points (New)
• Japan Airlines Mileage Bank(New)
• Marriott Bonvoy Points (New)
• Qantas Frequent Flyer Miles (Existing)
• Qatar Airways Privilege Club Avios (Existing)
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Miles(Existing)
• SpiceJet SpiceClub (New)
• Thai Airways Royal Orchid Miles (Existing)
• Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles (Existing)
• United Airlines Mileage Plus (New)
• Wyndham Hotels & Resorts (New)

Here are the partners that go away because Citi’s Rewards System moves to Axis Bank TravelEDGE:

• InterMiles
• Cathay Pacific AsiaMiles
• British Airways Executive Club Avios (although replaceable by Qatar Airways Avios)
• Taj Inner Circle
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Red Points

Apart from losing these credit card transfer partners, one of the disadvantages of the transition is that Axis Bank’s transfer partner capping will also be applicable.

Housekeeping items before the migration kicks in

From a credit card perspective, it would be advisable to keep a record of your pending dues, reward points and credit limits with Citibank before the cutover. Screenshot everything. Axis Bank will also shut down the redemption of points or conversion to miles effective July 6, 2024, 0000 hours IST, so if you want to make some conversions, you have about three days to go. If you want to convert into Virgin Atlantic miles or Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, the clock is ticking. However, these programmes will continue to be partners with American Express, so it is not like you are being completely cut off from them forever.

Here is a list of what tap shuts off when during the migration. Everything comes back online on July 15, 2024.

Bottomline

D-Day is getting closer. Axis Bank will migrate Citibank’s Retail customers over to their own systems over the next fortnight, and as of July 15, 2024, the Citi brand will sunset from the retail business. There has been a lot of communication ongoing recently about the move from Axis Bank, so you should read your email and the links are enclosed on this site as well.

What do you think of the migration preparation of Axis Bank for Citibank customers? If you have any open questions, or thoughts, put them in the comments section. 

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