Citi has agreed to acquire Kard Financial, expanding its customer engagement, rewards, and commerce media capabilities as the bank looks to deliver more personalized offers across its massive U.S. cardholder base.
Kard operates a commerce media and rewards platform that helps banks, fintechs, and neobanks connect customers with personalized merchant-funded offers.
The company uses verified transaction data, machine learning-powered personalization, and matching technology to help financial institutions deliver more relevant rewards while giving merchants and brands a way to reach consumers who are already demonstrating purchasing intent.
Kard’s platform is supported by billions of transactions and a network spanning financial institutions, fintechs, neobanks, and merchants.
For Citi, the acquisition is intended to strengthen a broader commerce ecosystem that connects cardholders, merchants, and brands more directly.
Citi plans to combine its scale, payments infrastructure, and customer relationships with Kard’s technology, merchant network, and personalization capabilities.
A major opportunity is Citi’s approximately 70 million cardmembers as of December 31, 2025, including customers across general-purpose credit cards, private-label credit cards, and installment lending, primarily in the U.S.
Integrating Kard could give Citi greater ability to personalize the rewards and merchant offers presented to those customers based on spending behavior and other transactional signals.
At the same time, merchants and brands could gain additional opportunities to reach Citi customers through offers designed around verified purchase activity rather than relying solely on broader advertising signals.
Commerce media has become an increasingly important part of the payments and advertising landscape because banks and payment platforms have direct visibility into verified transactions.
That data can potentially help brands measure whether an offer or campaign ultimately resulted in a purchase while enabling financial institutions to create more valuable loyalty experiences for customers.
Kard’s model is designed around merchant-funded rewards, meaning participating brands and merchants can fund incentives that are delivered through financial institutions and fintech platforms.
The company also uses machine learning to help determine which offers are most relevant to particular customers, simplifying the process for issuers while potentially improving engagement and redemption.
Citi sees those capabilities as complementary to its broader strategy of increasing the value customers receive from everyday spending.
The acquisition would also give Kard access to a much larger customer population while allowing its technology and team to operate within one of the largest card businesses in the U.S.
Until the transaction closes, Citi and Kard will continue operating as independent organizations.
The acquisition remains subject to customary closing conditions.
Support: Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, a Stifel company, served as exclusive financial advisor to Kard. Sullivan & Cromwell served as legal counsel to Citi, while Latham & Watkins advised Kard.
KEY QUOTES:
“We’re focused on helping customers get more value from their everyday spending. Kard has built advanced capabilities that complement our vision for the future of commerce and loyalty. With this acquisition, we believe we can work with Kard to accelerate innovation and deliver more personalized experiences for customers while creating new opportunities for brands and merchants to reach, engage and reward consumers in more meaningful ways.”
Abhinav Anand, Head of Value Cards, Lending and Commerce at Citi
“Joining forces with Citi marks an exciting new chapter for Kard, our team and our customers. I started Kard with the goal of building more rewarding experiences for consumers. Now being able to do that for Citi’s 70 million cardmembers, on top of the millions we support today, accelerates that original vision towards building the future of commerce.”
Ben Mackinnon, Founder and CEO of Kard
