Welcome Real-time ensures the day-to-day operations of the loyalty platform, including the daily processing and monitoring of the activities. This allows Alpha Bank to focus on its priorities - the business efficiency of the Bonus loyalty scheme.

The programme has produced consistently strong results since its launch and has encouraged increased customer spending in participating merchants, in spite of the challenging economic climate in Greece. Merchants in the coalition include brands such as BP, Vodafone and Aegean Airlines.

Since its launch in 2006, spending on Bonus cards at participating merchants has increased by an average of 30% year on year. This increase in sales goes against the general trend in the Greek market, which has experienced a significant decrease in consumer spending. The scheme has also been successful in engaging cardholders, with the redemption rate at 130% in 2011. This indicates high levels of customer engagement as there were substantially more points being redeemed than earned. Bonus is an internationally recognised scheme and recently won the prize for the Best Loyalty Programme of the Year 2012 in Financial Services, in the Loyalty Awards 2012.

Leonidas Kassoumis, senior manager of the consumer financing division at Alpha Bank, said: "The sophisticated technology provided by Welcome Real-time allows merchants to segment customers and offer them rewards tailored to their behaviour and requirements. Moving on to managed services by Welcome Real-time was a brilliant move for us. As a result of the Bonus programme, both Alpha Bank and our participating merchants have profited from increased transaction volumes. In addition, cardholders benefit from the convenience of earning and redeeming rewards at the point of sale."

Philippe David, CEO, Welcome Real-time, said: "Migrating to managed services made a lot of sense for Alpha Bank. It freed them up to focus on their business and the management of the loyalty scheme instead of spending time managing the platform. Alpha Bank's commitment to investing in communications, technology and relationships with the merchant partnerships has been pivotal in ensuring the success of the Bonus scheme."