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08/07/2026 7:07 pm
TL;DR: Banks are borrowing tiered rewards, partner ecosystems, and personalization tactics from retail, airlines, telecom, fuel, and travel because only 45% of banking customers are satisfied with their rewards, according to Accenture. The competitive issue is no longer whether loyalty exists, but whether it creates enough everyday value to keep customers engaged.
NHIMG editorial — based on content published by Comarch: customer loyalty in banking and lessons from other industries
By the numbers:
- only 45% of banking customers are satisfied with what rewards they receive
Questions worth separating out
Q: How should banks design loyalty programs that actually improve retention?
A: Banks should design loyalty around recurring behaviour, visible progress, and practical redemption.
Q: Why do tiered loyalty programs work better than flat rewards models?
A: Tiered models work because they create status, progression, and a reason to stay.
Q: How can banks use partner ecosystems without weakening the customer experience?
A: Banks should integrate partners through governed reward and redemption rules so customers can earn and spend across brands without confusion.
Practitioner guidance
- Map loyalty triggers to customer lifecycle events Tie rewards to actions such as digital logins, savings milestones, card usage, and tenure so the programme reflects ongoing behaviour rather than one-off spend.
- Simplify tier qualification and redemption rules Make status thresholds, point accrual, and redemption paths easy to understand across app, branch, and partner channels.
- Govern partner ecosystems as part of the loyalty architecture Treat airlines, retailers, telecoms, and fuel partners as controlled extensions of the programme, with clear entitlement rules, data-sharing boundaries, and dispute handling.
What's in the full article
Comarch's full article covers the operational detail this post intentionally leaves for the source:
- Specific loyalty design examples across retail, airline, telecom, fuel, and travel that show how each sector structures engagement
- Named bank programme examples such as Greenbacks, Citi ThankYou Rewards, and Preferred Rewards, with the mechanics behind each model
- Practical loyalty ideas for coalition rewards, tier design, and digital engagement that are useful when moving from strategy to implementation
- The article's own comparison tables and sector-by-sector observations that can help teams benchmark their current loyalty approach
👉 Read Comarch's analysis of bank loyalty programs and customer retention →
Bank loyalty programs: what is changing for retention teams?
Explore further
08/07/2026 7:31 pm
Bank loyalty is becoming a digital identity and lifecycle problem, not just a marketing programme. The article shows that loyalty now depends on recurring interactions, personalised offers, and status progression across multiple channels. That means the programme has to recognise the same customer consistently across app, card, branch, and partner touchpoints. Practitioners should treat loyalty as an identity-linked relationship layer, not a standalone rewards engine.
A few things that frame the scale:
- The average estimated time to remediate a leaked secret is 27 days, despite 75% of organisations expressing strong confidence in their secrets management capabilities, according to The State of Secrets in AppSec.
- Only 44% of developers are reported to follow security best practices for secrets management, exposing a significant developer behaviour gap.
A question worth separating out:
Q: What should banking teams measure to know if a loyalty program is working?
A: Teams should measure retention, product consolidation, reward redemption, and repeat engagement across digital and branch channels. If customers understand their status, use the benefits, and keep more of their relationship with the bank, the programme is creating value. If not, it is just a cost centre.
👉 Read our full editorial: Bank loyalty is shifting from points to relationship value
