Mastercard World Select debuts in Singapore with the Citi PremierMiles Card

Mastercard has historically offered four tiers in Singapore: Standard, Platinum, World and World Elite.

In practice, however, there are effectively only two tiers, and that creates a problem. Standard, Platinum and World are all available at the S$30,000 income level, so what actually differentiates them? Likewise, should the S$651.82 Citi Prestige and S$5,327.92 HSBC Prive Card be sharing the same World Elite badge?

Perhaps recognising this issue, Mastercard is now looking to add more tiers to the mix. A few months after teasing a top-of-the-line World Legend tier, currently slated for a 2026 debut, the card network has introduced an additional tier through the Citi PremierMiles Card known as World Select, sandwiched between World and World Elite.

💳 Mastercard Tiers in Singapore
Tier	Examples
Standard	CIMB AWSM Card Citi Clear Card DBS SAFRA Card
Platinum	DBS Woman’s Card Mari Credit Card POSB Everyday Card
World	Citi Rewards Card DBS Woman’s World Card UOB Lady’s Solitaire
World Select	Citi PremierMiles Card
World Elite	Citi Prestige Card HSBC Premier Mastercard StanChart Beyond Card
World Legend	Launching in 2026

To be clear, World Select is not a brand new tier as such- it’s already available in India. But this is the first time it’s been offered in Singapore, and cardholders can expect some incremental perks over World.

Citi PremierMiles Card upgraded to Mastercard World Select

Citi PremierMiles Cardholders should have received an eDM saying that their card has now been upgraded to the Mastercard World Select tier.

Your Citi PremierMiles Mastercard World is now upgraded to World Select. Your new status gives you unparalleled access to elevated travel experiences, elite membership status at premier hotel brands around the world, and priority bookings with the finest restaurants at your destination of choice.

-Citibank

The upgrade is effective immediately, and no action is required on the cardholder’s behalf. You don’t need to wait for a replacement card to arrive; your existing card number will be automatically recognised as part of the World Select BIN (bank identification number).

There is also a small change to the card face, with the red and yellow Mastercard logo replaced by a pure silver one. For what it’s worth, I believe this is merely cosmetic, as the Citi Prestige Card and HSBC TravelOne Cards also sport the pure silver logos, despite being from different tiers.

This makes the Citi PremierMiles Card the first and only Mastercard World Select in Singapore, though we might see other cards joining the tier soon. I’m thinking in particular of those with attributes that clearly set them apart from entry-level World cards, such as the UOB Lady’s Solitaire (income requirement of S$120K, annual fee of S$414.20), or the Maybank World Mastercard (income requirement of S$80K, annual fee of S$261.60).

Of course, this boils down to whether the banks are willing to pay the higher fees that Mastercard no doubt charges for this tier. 

What benefits does Mastercard World Select enjoy?

While there are no changes to benefits from the Citi side, the upgrade to World Select brings some additional perks from Mastercard.

Hotel elite status

Mastercard offers its customers fast tracks to elite status with numerous hotel programmes. Most of these are rather niche, though GHA DISCOVERY and Wyndham Rewards have significant reach worldwide.

Most of the Mastercard offer pages have not been updated to explicitly state the status accorded to World Select customers. However, I was able to compile the above table based on the Mastercard Offer Fulfillment Platform, after entering my Citi PremierMiles Card number.

For some programmes such as My Millennium, and Swiss Belexecutive, the tier offered to World Select is the same as World Elite. Most of the time, however, World Select is granted the same status as World, most notably with GHA DISCOVERY and Wyndham Rewards, which are arguably the two most useful programmes here.

HoteLux membership

HoteLux (yes, I’ve seen the news) offers World Select customers a complimentary 12-month HoteLux Elite membership, together with 1,500 HoteLux points (worth around US$136) and a S$50 voucher valid with a minimum booking of S$500.

This is slightly better than what the World tier receives, though not as good as the Elite Plus membership and 2,000 points granted to World Elite.

Asia Gourmet Circle

World Select Mastercard customers can book tables via Asia Gourmet Circle, which is basically a glorified reservations portal.

While Asia Gourmet Circle does offer some additional benefits like dining credits or complimentary wine, these are only available to the World Legend or World Elite tiers. 

So really, I don’t see any additional benefit to this programme for World Select customers.

Travel insurance

World, World Select and World Elite cards all enjoy complimentary travel insurance to cardholders who pay for their air tickets with their card, or redeem an award ticket with miles and use the card to cover the taxes and surcharges.

World Select enjoys additional coverage beyond the travel medical benefits offered to World, including trip inconvenience protection (cancellation, curtailment, postponement, delays and missed connections) and baggage protection. 

Other benefits

The World Select Mastercard does not offer Avis President’s Club status, unlike its World Elite counterpart. 

Also, there is no complimentary FlexiRoam data package for Citi PremierMiles Cardholders, despite the World Select upgrade. Do note that this is actually a bank-sponsored benefit, which is why you see it available on some World Mastercards (like the OCBC 90N Card and historically the Amaze) but not others.

Conclusion

The Mastercard World Select has debuted in Singapore with the Citi PremierMiles Card. Temper your expectations though; while there are some incremental benefits over the World tier, it’s nowhere near the “unparalleled access to elevated benefits” that the Citi website so breathlessly describes. 

Still, it’s interesting to see the introduction of a tier between mass affluent and mass market, and perhaps an acknowledgement of the fact that there’s very little separating World and Standard/Platinum Mastercards as it is.

I’m also curious to see which other cards, if any, make the move to World Select, since it’s hard to believe that Mastercard would introduce a new tier in Singapore just for a single card.