Loyalty and rewards

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.

The motivation behind JPMorgan Chase's purchase of rewards company cxLoyalty is clear — travel spending and rewards have suffered greatly during the pandemic — but another problem Chase is tackling with this acquisition is the need to wean people off cash rewards.

Michael Moeser, senior analyst at PaymentsSource, talks to Jennifer Philo, group vice president of U.S. commerce at Blackhawk Network, about the ways the global pandemic has transformed the use cases for gift cards, prepaid cards and loyalty products the company supports.

JPMorgan Chase is buying cxLoyalty, a major credit card loyalty platform, in a bid to enrich its own card loyalty programs when travel resumes after the global pandemic.

JPMorgan Chase is partnering with Air Canada, the bank's first new cobranded card partner to be announced in years.

How do you connect with the customer in today’s environment? Citi's new head of branded cards, Pam Habner, sits down with PaymentsSource's Daniel Wolfe to talk about purpose-driven leadership and how companies can take a stand on issues that matter.

Viva Wallet is offering London’s 20,000 black taxis a Mastercard-branded business debit card whose cashback is meant to be offset against card acceptance fees at the acquirer’s in-taxi terminals.

Google has redesigned Google Pay to add new financial management and loyalty features; and to offer consumers checking and savings accounts from partner banks and credit unions in 2021.