I just came back from Malaysia and used the Citibank card at a Maybank (a local bank) ATM to withdraw cash. I select credit when making withdrawal but the exchange rate on a weekday were terrible and were even lower than the cash exchange rate used by the money changer. To get an idea of the rates when using the ATM - it is $336 AUD debited for every $1,000 Malaysian ringgit withdrawn against $315 AUD for every $1,000 Malaysian ringgit exchanged with the money changer. The international exchange rate used by the bank on that day is about $316 AUD for $1,000 Malaysian ringgit .
I have used the ATM before last year with a Citibank Plus Visa before it was converted to Mastercard and the exchange rate was good. I was just wondering whether any one using Citibank Plus Mastercard overseas has experience a rip off in their exchange rate. It could be just a country issue or could be a world wide issue as was discussed a bit here by "big":- https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/359963.
This may mean the no international transactions fees offered by Citibank Plus is no longer an attractive option.
Did you check the transaction record in your Citi account for the breakdown, to see if there were any TXN fees? BTW Paypass is irrelevant, their cards have had Paypass for a while now and it's only for use in AU.