SINGAPORE, July 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Today, rewards technology leader Ascenda announced the expansion of its partnership with OCBC, Singapore’s longest-established bank and second-largest financial group in Southeast Asia by assets. The comprehensive premium rewards proposition sets out to enhance OCBC’s credit card offerings, underpinning a drive to boost acquisition and engagement amongst high-value customers.

Building on the thriving success of the Travel with OCBC platform – which provides OCBC cardmembers a hassle-free digital experience to book flights, hotel stays, and car rentals using OCBC’s reward currencies – Ascenda is now enabling the bank to elevate its aspirational rewards offering and introduce valuable new redemption options.

Effective immediately, customers are able to transfer their rewards currencies into 8 new major airline and hotel partner programmes via the bank’s points exchange portal STACK. The milestone comes at an exciting point in time when travel in Asia Pacific is growing faster than any other region globally, with April 2023 air travel activity up 193% year-on-year, according to IATA’s monthly Air Passenger Market Analysis.

Madeline O’Connor, SVP Strategic Clients at Ascenda, explained: “We’re thrilled to grow our relationship with OCBC, one of Singapore’s leading banks, to bring world-class rewards to market and unlock customer engagement. This transformational launch comes at a very opportune time when consumer appetite for outbound travel is exploding in the Singapore market.”

Gary Wong, Head, Digital Payments & Ecosystems at OCBC, added: “Our rewards propositions play a pivotal role in attracting, engaging and retaining high-spending customers for the Bank. With the expanded access to Ascenda’s larger global network, our customers get more choices, greater value and a better digital rewards experience.”

The new proposition powered by Ascenda is now available to OCBC customers holding Travel$, Voyage Miles and OCBC$ rewards balances.

About Ascenda

Ascenda powers innovative premium rewards programs that accelerate the growth of financial services. The company delivers easy-to-deploy rewards infrastructure to rapidly scale acquisition, card spending, cross-selling and retention. Serving major financial services brands and disruptive fintechs across the globe, Ascenda’s clients include Brex, HSBC, Virgin Money, American Express and Capital One.

For more information about Ascenda, please visit ascendaloyalty.com.