At the time of launch, rewards encompass card spend, transaction and savings accounts, as well as incentives for good financial management to help customers make their money go further. Home loans and other banking products will be added over time.

The new programme, which sits at the centre of the Virgin Money Australia digital bank experience, is leading a continued global surge of brand investments in loyalty and rewards, exceeding USD 387bn globally in 2020, according to data aggregated from Alliance Data and Euromonitor. It introduces a transformational opportunity for challenger banks globally to grow revenue and market share by differentiating beyond their classic focus on low fees and easy user experience. Relative to traditional banks, who are often encumbered by complex and costly legacy systems, these challengers are more technologically advanced and hence ideally placed to create a more holistic customer value proposition through personalised bank-wide rewards.

Kyle Armstrong, Ascenda’s CEO, said, “We’re delighted to launch this innovative and holistic bank rewards program with Virgin Money Australia. It breaks new ground when it comes to bank-wide rewards and hyper-personalization, and sets a new benchmark for how leading consumer banks globally can think about customer engagement in the future.”

Mr Greg Boyle, Virgin Money Australia CEO said: “Our loyalty program is a core value proposition of the new Virgin Money digital bank and represents a powerful tool to share real value with customers. Ascenda’s unique package of superior technology, plug-&-play content, merchant and card-linked offer capabilities and rapid implementation has truly made loyalty simple for Virgin Money.”

The Virgin Money Australia Digital Bank is now available to download in the App Store and Google Play.