Sears Announces Extension Of Co-Brand Credit Card With Citi

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Sears Holdings and Citi have announced the extension of their 15-year co-brand and private label credit card relationship.

The deal also includes long-term marketing arrangements, as well as enhancements to the Shop Your Way Mastercard rewards program, including benefits that were previously available only during special promotions.

We’re extremely proud of our longstanding relationship with Citi and are excited that this best-in-class offer which rewards Shop Your Way members for activity in their daily lives is now an ongoing part of the value proposition for cardholders,” Edward S. Lampert, chairman and CEO of Sears Holdings, said in a press release.

“The Shop Your Way Mastercard is a cornerstone of the Shop Your Way engagement platform, which provides generous rewards, partnerships and experiences. We saw a strong volume of card issuances in 2017, and we look forward to building on that momentum as the power of the Shop Your Way platform allows us to personalize experiences and make life easier and more rewarding for every cardholder.”

Shop Your Way Mastercard cardholders will now automatically earn more points on eligible purchases, including 5 percent back in points on purchases made at gas stations, 3 percent back in points on purchases at grocery stores and restaurants

(on the first $10,000 of combined eligible purchases made annually on gas, groceries and restaurants and 1 percent thereafter), 2 percent back in points on purchases made at Sears and Kmart and 1 percent back in points on all other eligible purchases.

Points can be redeemed at Kmart, Sears and Sears Optical and are also combinable with other Shop Your Way point offers through partners such as Uber and Uber Eats, GasBuddy, Avis Budget Group, Synapse (division of Meredith), fuboTV, Truxx and more.

“We are pleased to extend our longstanding, successful relationship with Sears. The extension provides for strong, long-term economic value for both Citi and Sears, and we are especially proud to provide enhanced benefits to our Shop Your Way Mastercard cardmembers every day at the places they shop most,” said Craig Vallorano, head of Citi Retail Services. “Consistent with other top-of-wallet credit cards, more than 70 percent of customer spend on our Citi-Sears general purpose cards occurs at merchants beyond Sears, so this enhanced rewards structure is designed to deliver strong value for Shop Your Way card customers as well.”

As part of the deal, Citi will pay Sears $425 million ($400 million has already been received by Sears). The shared economics of the program will remain in effect through December 31, 2020, and will be performance-based thereafter.


CFTC Appoints Whistleblower Office Director Brian Young to Lead Enforcement

CFTC

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has named the former director of its Whistleblower Office, Brian Young, as its director of enforcement.

The appointment was announced Friday (Feb. 14) by CFTC Acting Chairman Caroline D. Pham, according to a CFTC press release. Young had been serving in an acting capacity since Jan. 22.

“He is a fearless leader that will build an even more impressive enforcement program that will stay true to the CFTC’s mission to protect the American public from fraudsters and scammers,” Pham said in the release. “I am confident that under Brian’s leadership, the CFTC will expand and scale our resources to help more victims than ever before and ensure the integrity of our markets in the name of justice.”

Young joined the CFTC as director of its Whistleblower Office in 2024, according to the release. During his first year in that role, Young oversaw a team that achieved an all-time high number of annual dispositions of whistleblower award applications.

Prior to joining the agency, Young was with the Department of Justice for nearly 20 years, most recently as acting director of litigation for the Antitrust Division, the release said.

Before that, Young served in various roles in the Fraud Section of the Criminal Division, including chief of the Fraud Section’s Litigation Unit, per the release.

While at the Department of Justice, he successfully tried criminal fraud and manipulation cases in the CFTC’s markets, according to the release.

“I want to thank Acting Chairman Pham for her confidence in me and for her commitment to continuing the CFTC’s aggressive efforts to protect our global commodity markets from fraud, manipulation and other abusive practices,” Young said in the release.

The White House said in a Wednesday press release that it sent to the Senate nominations for Brian Quintenz to be chairman of the CFTC and a commissioner of the CFTC for a term expiring April 13, 2029.

Quintenz is a former commissioner of the CFTC and now works for the cryptocurrency unit at venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz, PYMNTS reported Wednesday (Feb. 12).

The commission is expected to gain new powers over the cryptocurrency sector.