Loyalty and rewards

As wireless handset costs rise, American Express is throwing in insurance coverage for phone repair or replacement on top-tier rewards cards as another way to get upscale travel-and-entertainment customers to stick around as the pandemic drags on.

I2c and Unifimoney change incentives to fit market conditions, rather than focusing primarily on boosting consumer spending.

Discovery Bank in South Africa and other overseas financial companies say healthier customers are more profitable. They are giving reward points, gym subsidies and even free Apple Watches to those who meet fitness goals.

Walmart’s warehouse unit Sam’s Club is introducing digital features and new rewards tiers to modernize its Synchrony-issued Mastercard.

The question isn't whether things will magically return to the 2019 status quo, but where is there still pent-up demand among consumers and merchants?

In the pandemic age, banks are getting creative in a bid to keep affluent customers.

Walgreens is collaborating with Synchrony to roll out a cobranded credit card with an eye on the convergence of digital tools for spending and health care.

Synchrony wasn’t unscathed by the pandemic — consumer spending slowed during the first half of the year — but its mix of private-label and cobranded cards for everyday items suffered far less than other issuers' cards that emphasized luxury and travel.

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 saw some businesses become big winners — such as Zoom, Home Depot and payments companies like PayPal — while other businesses suffered heavily, most notably the travel and hospitality industries. Credit card issuers also suffered, as demand lagged heavily for new cards and their overall spending dropped considerably during the year.

American Express has spent years refining a decision-making engine that can tailor products and services to cardholders' needs in real time.