Citi, Paypal Will Expand Cardmember Benefits

Citigroup Inc. [s:c] and Paypal Holdings Inc. said Thursday they would enable some Citi cardmembers to use ThankYou Points to pay for some or all of their purchase when shopping online with merchants that accept PayPal. There are 14 million ThankYou Rewards members in the U.S., according to Citi, and the agreement will allow this access to millions of merchants, the two companies said. On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported PayPal was also set to announce it would soon be easier for card customers of J.P.Morgan Chase Inc. to pay for in-store purchases with PayPal. Paypal was nearly 1% higher in morning trading, and has returned 49.2% for the year to date, while Citi was flat for the day. The bank has returned 12.3% for the year to date, compared to 10.5% for the S&P 500 and 9.5% for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.