OREANDA-NEWS. June 26, 2014. During the first year of operation of the American Express Membership Rewards loyalty program in Latvia local American Express Cardmembers tended to use the points they earned for payments made using American Express cards to get cinema tickets, or they accrue their points in order to exchange them for greater gifts, such as mobile devices, household appliances or airline tickets.

Citadele Bank, the exclusive issuer of American Express-branded Cards in Latvia, is celebrating a year since it began offering its American Express Cardmembers access to Membership Rewards, a globally award winning loyalty programme from American Express. The program offers Cardmembers to earn points when they pay using their American Express Card, and to exchange these points for a wide variety of items in categories including retail, hospitality and travel. Last year thousands of American Express Cardmembers registered with the Membership Rewards program received a gift simply for the fact that they used their American Express Cards to pay. American Express card holders received 14'883 gifts during the first year the program operated in Latvia, from which over 11'000 were cinema tickets.

American Express credit card is available to anyone whose net monthly income is at least 300 euros.

"Looking back at the first year of operation of the Membership Rewards program, one can see that our clients appreciated the opportunity to enjoy wonderful gifts by making everyday payments using their American Express Cards and thus earning points. The range of Membership Rewards gifts is very wide. Some Cardmembers wish to enjoy smaller gifts more regularly whereas others accrue their points for greater rewards, such as mobile devices or tablets. The earned points have no expiry date therefore if clients set particular goals for accruing them they are not limited in time, and they can receive the desired gifts even after a year," explains Santa Purgaile, Member of the Board of Directors of Citadele Bank.

Currently more than 300 different gifts are available for American Express Cardmembers through the Membership Rewards program in Latvia.

Clients who wish to enjoy smaller gifts more often usually choose to exchange their points for cinema tickets at "Kino Citadele", meals at "Gan Bei" restaurants, or purchase household appliances at "Elkor" or "Xnet" stores. Clients enjoy receiving gifts from such partners as "PINS", "Jana Rozes gramatnica", "Vinothek Gourmet", "Kursi", "Sky&More", "Mobilly" and "Jaunais Rigas teatris".

In terms of what areas clients like to receive gifts in, it is clear that people enjoy recreation (74% of gifts), travelling (16% of gifts), shopping (6% of gifts) and to have a nice meal (4% of gifts).

The most expensive gifts our clients have chosen for their earned Membership Rewards points up to now are as follows: mobile devices iPhone 5c, tablets iPad 4 with WIFI 16GB and 64GB, and Philips Saeco Xsmall espresso coffee makers. It may be so that the most expensive gifts are still waiting for their claimers since only 28% of the total number of the Membership Rewards program members exchanged their points to gifts during the first year of the program; 72% of clients continue earning their points to use for a higher value Reward item.

To become a member of the Membership Rewards program and start earning points, American Express Cardmembers must register at: https://membershiprewards.lv/lv. All Cardmembers can follow the number of earned points by logging onto their profiles where they can also select the most suitable gift for themselves. Clients receive one Membership Rewards point per every euro spent using their American Express Cards; these points can be exchanged for valuable gifts.

Membership Rewards is a loyalty program brought to American Express® Cardmembers in Latvia, and it is available for on all American Express-branded Cards issued by Citadele Bank, namely: BLUE from American Express, American Express® Gold, Platinum Card®, American Express® Business and American Express® Gold Business credit cards. American Express Cards offer access to a credit limit in the amount of 4.5 monthly salaries, and enjoy 45 days of loan repayment holidays - clients can use the credit limit free of interest fee during this period. In addition several types of American Express cards include travel and purchase insurance.

Citadele Bank is the only cooperation partner of American Express in Latvia and Lithuania which is entitled to issue American Express payment cards.