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Financial services loyalty programs

RBC Avion Rewards

RBC's rewards program, rebranded in 2022 and opened to non-cardholders, blending points with merchant cash back.

Avion Rewards is the loyalty program of Royal Bank of Canada, rebranded from RBC Rewards in 2022. The program is open to everyone, not just cardholders, through a free base tier, and members earn Avion points plus merchant cash back. Tiers run Avion Select, Avion Premium, and Avion Elite, with cardholders earning at higher rates.

RBC Avion Rewards Royal Bank of Canada Canada
Operator
Royal Bank of Canada
Country
Canada
Program currency
Avion points, plus merchant cash back ↗
Rebranded
2022, from RBC Rewards to Avion Rewards ↗
Membership
Open to non-cardholders through a free Avion Select tier ↗
Tiers
Avion Select, Avion Premium, Avion Elite

Avion Rewards is Royal Bank of Canada's rewards program, rebranded from RBC Rewards in 2022. The redesign kept the underlying points structure but reframed the program around the Avion name and, importantly, opened membership to everyone through a free Avion Select tier. Non-cardholders can join, link cards to earn merchant cash back, and shop a network of retail offers, while cardholders earn Avion points at higher rates and reach Premium and Elite tiers.

Opening the program beyond cardholders is the strategic move. A bank rewards program is usually a card benefit, so admitting non-cardholders widens the relationship and gathers spending data from customers who have not taken a credit product, then uses offers and cash back to nurture them toward one.

The lesson for an enterprise operator is that decoupling program membership from the flagship product expands the top of the funnel. RBC turned a cardholder perk into an open program with a merchant-offer layer, capturing more members and more data while preserving richer earning for cardholders. The rebrand was the occasion, but the durable change was the shift from a closed card benefit to an open rewards platform.

Listings are editorial, compiled from public sources. Program details change; verify with the operator.

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