CBA Shifts Rewards Program Focus to Virgin Over Qantas

Commonwealth Bank has announced a major overhaul of its credit card rewards program, dubbed 'Yello,' which will push customers to spend their points with Virgin's Velocity scheme instead of Qantas Frequent Flyer. The move comes in response to the Reserve Bank of Australia's ban on credit card surcharges that fund credit card perks, set to take effect on October 1.

The new Yello program will award more generous conversion rates for customers who redeem their points with Virgin Velocity rather than Qantas Frequent Flyer. However, details on how many Yello points are needed to redeem rewards with various airline schemes, including Qantas and Virgin, have not been revealed yet.

Customers who bundle multiple products, such as mortgages or term deposits, with the bank will earn more points under the new scheme. The bank hopes that promoting customer loyalty will help offset revenue losses from the surcharge ban, which is expected to cut banks' revenue by $660 million a year.