Taylor Swift fans caused 45% surge in UOB card applications across Southeast Asia

SINGAPORE — UOB said it experienced a "very significant surge" – of 45 per cent – in UOB card application volumes across Southeast Asia following the announcement on 21 June that the bank's credit and debit cardholders will have privileged access to tickets for Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour concerts in Singapore.

Daily average UOB credit card applications across Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam in the week the announcement was made increased by 45 per cent compared with the preceding weeks in June, according to UOB. The bank added that debit card applications in Singapore and Vietnam were up nearly 130 per cent as well.

"Based on UOB card application data, we anticipate an upswing in travellers to Singapore come March next year," said UOB's Head of Group Personal Financial Services Jacquelyn Tan.

"Anticipating the surge in card applications, we had taken proactive steps to handle the uptick in volume such as increasing the capacity of the relevant business units handling these applications," said Tan.

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Over half of new UOB cardholders are females

Based on UOB's card application data for all five countries, 52 per cent of new credit cardholders since the pre-sale and reserved tickets announcement are females. In Singapore, the proportion of new female cardholders had jumped almost 10 per cent in the week the announcement was made compared with the earlier part of the month where the male-female mix was almost equal, said UOB.

Over a third of the new cardholders across all five countries were aged 30 to 40 years old, with the 20 to 30-year-old demographic coming in a close second at almost 32 per cent.

In Singapore, UOB said that there was a "visible shift" in the demographics of new cardholders from 21 to 27 June, with the proportion of 25 to 29-year-olds increasing from 22 per cent in the preceding weeks of June 2023 to 27 per cent in the week following the announcement.

UOB cardholders can purchase tickets during the pre-sale window and from the general on-sale reserved ticket allotment. The pre-sale period for Swift's Singapore concerts is expected to start at 12pm on Wednesday (5 July) and end at 9am on Friday (7 July), while sales for the reserved tickets start from 12pm on Friday (7 July). Tickets are sold on a first-come, first-served basis and are limited in quantity.

Standard ticket prices for Swift's Singapore concerts range from S$108 to S$348, while VIP packages start from $S328 to S$1,228. Singapore will be the artist's only tour stop in Southeast Asia.

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