Received this T&C's update notice in my RBC credit card statement. Looks like they will be introducing a new "moi RBC Visa" that is linked to Metro's metro&moi rewards program, which makes sense, as Loblaws stores and Sobeys/Empire both have their own credit card lineup now.
The new card will be $0 annual fee. The earn rate and other perks (if any) are yet to be revealed.
dmxlite wrote: ↑
So useless outside Ontario and Quebec... Never seen RBC issue such a localized card... it's almost MBNA territory.
For now it seems like this will largely be Quebec only (with the exception of the very few Jean Coutu stores in ON and NB), though if it's successful I imagine Metro may eventually dump Air Miles in Ontario too.
dmxlite wrote: ↑
So useless outside Ontario and Quebec... Never seen RBC issue such a localized card... it's almost MBNA territory.
Those two provinces have approaching two thirds of the population of Canada, so it's not a very narrow niche they're aiming for. But this is not really about Ontario. There are over 1.2 million active metro&moi members just in Quebec - that's a massive proportion of the adult population. RBC offers plenty of other cards for much smaller selected groups, including stuff like their infinite privilege or their co-branded cards. And all banks do Quebec-specific versions of their cards anyway with different interest rates and different repayment schedules due to differing rules in Quebec compared to elsewhere (not even mentioning the language difference).
CIBC took on a glut of new Quebec-based customers with whom they'd had no prior relationship when CIBC took over the Costco cards. RBC will be wanting to expand their reach in the province by piggy-backing on the huge membership of metro&moi. Quebecers have traditionally always been loyal to Desjardins, but that loyalty is fading rapidly, leaving space for other players to get a good slice of market share.
