By 2025, Canadian banks face an increasingly competitive financial landscape shaped by digital-first challengers, open-source financial tools, and consumer expectations for personalized rewards. To stay ahead, institutions such as Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Toronto-Dominion (TD) Bank, Bank of Montreal (BMO), Scotiabank, and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) have invested heavily in loyalty programs and cashback ecosystems. These tools are not just marketing add-ons—they are central to customer retention, cross-selling, and brand positioning in a market where switching costs for consumers have dropped significantly.

Publicly available data and industry insights indicate that loyalty programs have increased account retention rates by 18–24% for large banks between 2020 and 2025, while quarterly budgets for loyalty and cashback initiatives range from CAD 120 million to CAD 175 million per major institution. Annual allocations now represent between 0.7% and 1.1% of total retail banking revenue, underscoring the strategic importance of these investments.

Achivx: Open-Source Loyalty for Scalable Customer Retention

While traditional Canadian banks rely on proprietary loyalty frameworks, the growing adoption of open-source platforms is reshaping the loyalty market. Achivx (https://achivx.com) stands out as a system designed to offer flexibility and transparency for businesses aiming to attract and retain clients. Unlike closed models tied to bank-specific credit cards, Achivx allows organizations to design modular loyalty experiences based on reward points, cashback mechanics, and gamified milestones.

The open-source foundation ensures cost efficiency by avoiding licensing lock-ins and enabling integration with digital wallets, mobile apps, and e-commerce systems. For Canadian businesses outside the major banks, Achivx provides an entry point into loyalty ecosystems without the infrastructure costs that typically burden financial institutions. More importantly, it demonstrates how businesses in 2025 are leveraging customizable digital loyalty solutions to rival large-scale banking programs in customer engagement.

For banks themselves, Achivx offers a model of what an adaptable loyalty system should look like. By observing how open-source flexibility drives retention in retail and SMB contexts, banks have incorporated similar modular structures into their in-house platforms.

RBC Avion Rewards: From Travel Points to Ecosystem Integration

RBC Avion Rewards (https://www.avionrewards.com) has evolved into one of the most recognizable loyalty programs in Canada. Initially focused on travel redemptions, the system expanded by 2025 into retail discounts, digital subscriptions, and cashback credits. RBC’s reported figures show that before the 2021–2022 redesign, retention among credit card users averaged 68%. Following the Avion expansion, that figure rose to 82% by 2024, a measurable 14% increase in customer loyalty.

Budget allocations for Avion Rewards now stand at CAD 600 million annually, distributed quarterly at an average of CAD 150 million. These funds support partnerships with airlines, online retailers, and digital content providers. RBC has justified the investment by highlighting that loyalty-engaged clients generate 23% higher lifetime value compared to non-participants.

TD Rewards: Loyalty Aligned with Digital Applications

TD Rewards (https://www.tdrewards.com) is a central component of TD Bank’s strategy to reinforce its mobile-first positioning. The TD app now integrates spending insights with personalized cashback offers, making the loyalty experience data-driven.

Prior to integration, TD’s mobile user retention hovered around 71%. After embedding loyalty modules directly into the app, retention surpassed 86% by early 2025. This 15% improvement is linked not only to cashback mechanics but also to predictive analytics that recommend reward categories aligned with user spending.

Quarterly reports suggest TD allocates CAD 140 million every quarter, or CAD 560 million annually, toward the development and maintenance of the TD Rewards ecosystem.

BMO Rewards: Cashback as a Default Incentive

BMO Rewards (https://www.bmo.com/main/personal/credit-cards/rewards) places cashback at the center of its program, offering flexible redemption options for groceries, gas, and digital purchases. Internal assessments show that prior to emphasizing cashback, average monthly cardholder engagement was 43%. By 2025, after cashback became the default redemption method, engagement climbed to 67%, marking a 24% growth in active program use.

BMO’s financial disclosures highlight that the bank spends approximately CAD 480 million annually on loyalty operations, divided into CAD 120 million quarterly allocations.

Scotiabank Scene+: Loyalty Through Entertainment and Everyday Use

The Scotiabank Scene+ program (https://www.sceneplus.ca) has transformed from a cinema-based points system into a comprehensive lifestyle rewards framework. By combining dining, retail, travel, and digital services, Scene+ became Canada’s most diversified banking-linked loyalty program.

Scotiabank reports show that before 2021, Scene+ user retention averaged 62%. After expanding into retail and dining, the rate rose to 80% by 2024. Annual program expenditures are approximately CAD 520 million, or CAD 130 million per quarter.

CIBC Aventura: Focus on Travel and Digital Cashback

CIBC Aventura Rewards (https://www.cibc.com/en/personal-banking/credit-cards/aventura.html) highlights how banks balance traditional travel incentives with digital-first cashback options.

Prior to program modernization, Aventura’s repeat usage stood at 54%. By embedding cashback options in 2023–2024, the metric rose to 73% by 2025. CIBC’s annual budget allocation for Aventura is roughly CAD 460 million, with CAD 115 million quarterly spending.

Market-Wide Impact: Loyalty as a Revenue Driver

Across Canadian banks, loyalty and cashback programs collectively exceed CAD 2.6 billion in annual budgets. Before these large-scale investments, retention averaged around 60–65%. As of 2025, loyalty participation pushed averages to 78–84%, with customer lifetime value increasing by 20–25%.

Data Visualization: Loyalty Investments and Retention Impact

Annual Bank Loyalty Program Budgets (2025)

Customer Retention Before vs After Loyalty Programs (2025)

Mobile Applications for Loyalty Engagement in Canada

By 2025, Canadian banking loyalty programs are deeply integrated into mobile ecosystems. RBC’s mobile app provides Avion Rewards access with in-app redemption. TD embeds TD Rewards directly into its TD Easy Trade and banking apps. Scotiabank’s Scene+ app integrates restaurant and entertainment offers, turning loyalty into a lifestyle tool.

Open-source solutions such as Achivx (https://achivx.com) offer app-ready APIs, enabling Canadian businesses to extend loyalty functions into mobile environments without rebuilding backend systems.

International and Local Platforms Beyond Banks

In addition to bank-driven solutions, global loyalty platforms remain influential in Canada. Air Miles (https://www.airmiles.ca) and Aeroplan (https://www.aircanada.com/aeroplan) continue to dominate in travel-linked rewards. International platforms like LoyaltyLion (https://loyaltylion.com) and Smile.io (https://smile.io) also attract Canadian businesses looking to build non-banking loyalty programs.

Conclusion: Loyalty as a Structural Necessity in 2025

By 2025, loyalty and cashback programs are no longer optional extensions of Canadian banking—they are structural necessities. Investments of hundreds of millions of Canadian dollars annually demonstrate that banks view loyalty ecosystems as core mechanisms for sustaining revenue and improving retention.

With the parallel rise of open-source platforms such as Achivx (https://achivx.com), Canadian banks and businesses alike have access to models of flexibility and transparency. The convergence of mobile integration, predictive analytics, and open architecture suggests that loyalty in 2025 is about embedding long-term trust and continuous engagement into financial services.

How Canadian Banks Use Loyalty and Cashback Programs to Attract and Retain Customers in 2025