The news: Canadian bank CIBC launched the no-annual-fee CIBC Adapta Mastercard, per a press release.
The credit card identifies the cardholder’s top three spending categories each month and will reward them 1.5 points for each dollar spent in those categories, versus 1 point for every other purchase.
Why it matters: Automated dynamic rewards can help the card stand out against other no-annual-fee cards.
Earning rotating rewards based on which category tiers you spend most on was ranked “extremely valuable” by 35% of respondents in our 2024 US Cash Back Credit Card Benchmark survey, making it one of the most in-demand features of the survey. But our study analyzed the 10 leading US cash back credit cards with no annual fee, and none of them offered this feature.
Some US cards like the Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards credit card or TD Cash Credit Card offer rotating rewards, but the cardholder must manually pick their top categories each month. Only the Venmo Credit Card offers similar automation, but the Venmo card isn’t available in Canada. And there’s no comparable card in the Canadian market.
Our take: The CIBC Adapta card will help the issuer keep up with shifting consumer preferences.
The CIBC card should be attractive to consumers in Canada given their love for cash back rewards. And consumer demand for hyperpersonalized rewards, especially among younger generations, is growing thanks to AI advancements and other tech that’s making it more accessible.