Which bank offers the best credit card points currency?

If you’re optimising your miles strategy, you’ll probably have credit cards from multiple banks, each with its own rewards currency such as Citi Miles, Maybank TREATS, OCBC$, and UOB UNI$.

But not all points are made equal. They differ in terms of expiry, minimum conversion amounts, pooling, transfer partners, conversion fees, and conversion speed. The upshot is that two cards could offer the same earn rate, yet one could have the upper hand in terms of points quality. 

Based on these criteria, here’s my take on the the best points currencies— and how to rack them up quickly.

American Express

Membership Rewards
Expiry	None
Minimum Conversion	250 miles
Pooling	Yes
Transfer Partners	11 (⚡ 2 instant)
Transfer Fees	None

Expiry

Membership Rewards (MR) points do not expire. They are valid so long as your card account remains open.

Minimum Conversion

MR points have some of the smallest conversion blocks in Singapore. While most banks require you to convert the equivalent of 10,000 miles at a time, American Express requires just 250 miles. 

This, together with the lack of conversion fees, makes it a great way of performing small top-ups to a frequent flyer account.

Pooling

MR points pool, so you can combine points earned across different cards in a single redemption.

Why is pooling important, when MR points have small conversion blocks and no transfer fees?

• If you have an AMEX Platinum Charge or Centurion, the conversion rate for airline miles is 400 points = 250 miles
• For all other cards, it’s 450 points = 250 miles

Because points pool, AMEX Platinum Charge or Centurion cardholders can convert all their points at the more favourable ratio, regardless of which card they were earned on.

Transfer Partners, Fees and Speed

MR points can be converted to 11 different airline and hotel programmes, with no conversion fees.

Frequent Flyer Programme	Conversion Ratio (AMEX: Partner)
	Plat Charge & Centurion	Others
	400 : 250	450 : 250
	450 : 250	450 : 250
	400 : 250	450 : 250
	400 : 250	450 : 250
	400 : 250	450 : 250
	400 : 250	450 : 250
	400 : 250	450 : 250
	400 : 250	450 : 250
	400 : 250	450 : 250
	1,000 : 1,000	1,000 : 1,000
	1,000 : 1,250	1,000 : 1,250

All airline partners share the same ratio. However, when it comes to hotel programmes, Hilton Honors has a preferable ratio to Marriott Bonvoy.

Transfers to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer and Qantas Frequent Flyer are instant, while most other partners are completed within 24-48 hours.

How to earn more MR points

Welcome offers

Here’s a summary of the welcome offers featuring MR points, available at the time of writing.

Card	Min. Spend	Bonus
AMEX Platinum Charge Apply	S$8,000 in 90 days	150,000 MR points (93,750 miles) + S$100

Since welcome bonuses frequently change, I’d advise you to refer to my monthly roundup of credit card sign-up bonuses for the latest deals.

Spend at 10Xcelerator merchants

Card	Earn Rate (Regular)	Earn Rate (10Xcelerator)
AMEX Platinum Credit Card	2 MR per S$1.60 (0.69 mpd)	10 MR per S$1.60 (3.45 mpd)
AMEX Platinum Reserve	2 MR per S$1.60 (0.69 mpd)	10 MR per S$1.60 (3.45 mpd)
AMEX Platinum Charge	2 MR per S$1.60 (0.78 mpd)	20MR per S$1.60 (7.8 mpd)*
*Up to S$16,000 per calendar year, after which 10 MR points per S$1.60 (3.9 mpd)

Outside of welcome offers it’s difficult to earn MR points at a decent rate because most spending earns just 2 MR points per S$1.60 (0.78 mpd for AMEX Platinum Charge, 0.69 mpd for others). Why S$1.60? My guess is it’s a hangover from the days when the SGD/USD exchange rate was reliably around that level, since AMEX cards issued in Singapore used to be USD-denominated.

Spending at 10Xcelerator merchants will give you a boost, but the problem is that few of these are what you’d call everyday spending: think high-end restaurants, luxury watch and fashion boutiques, and the like. You might get a sudden infusion of MR points with a big-ticket purchase, but it’s not going to be a consistent source of points for most people.

If you’re an AMEX Platinum Charge cardholder, don’t forget that you need to manually enrol for 10Xcelerator from 2025 onwards. No enrolment is necessary for AMEX Platinum Reserve and AMEX Platinum Credit Card cardholders. 

Citibank

Citi Miles & ThankYou Points
Expiry	None (Citi Miles, ThankYou points earned on Citi Prestige & ULTIMA) Up to 5 years (ThankYou points earned on Citi Rewards)
Minimum Conversion	10,000 miles
Pooling	No
Transfer Partners	12 (⚡ 0 instant)
Transfer Fees	S$27.25

Expiry

Citi Miles, and ThankYou points earned on the Citi Prestige Card and Citi ULTIMA Card never expire.

If you have a Citi Rewards Card, your ThankYou points are valid up to five years. Note the “up to” caveat, as some points will expire earlier than that, depending on when they’re earned. 

Minimum Conversion

Citi doesn’t win any kudos here, as its minimum conversion block of 10,000 miles is in line with the rest of the market.

Pooling

Citi Miles and ThankYou points don’t pool, even if they’re the same sub-currency. For instance, if I have both the Citi Rewards Mastercard and Citi Rewards Visa, I can’t combine the ThankYou points balances in a single redemption.

This means you’ll need to pay as many conversion fees as you have cards, and also increases the possibility of ending up with an orphan balance.

Transfer Partners, Fees and Speed

Citi Miles and ThankYou points can be converted to 12 different airline and hotel programmes, with a S$27.25 conversion fee.

Frequent Flyer Programme	Conversion Ratio (Citi: Partner)
	Citi Miles	TY Points
	10,000 : 10,000	25,000 : 10,000
	10,000 : 10,000	25,000 : 10,000
	10,000 : 10,000	25,000 : 10,000
	10,000 : 10,000	25,000 : 10,000
	10,000 : 10,000	25,000 : 10,000
	10,000 : 10,000	25,000 : 10,000
	10,000 : 10,000	25,000 : 10,000
	10,000 : 10,000	25,000 : 10,000
	10,000 : 10,000	25,000 : 10,000
	10,000 : 10,000	25,000 : 10,000
	10,000 : 10,000	25,000 : 10,000
	10,000 : 10,000	25,000 : 10,000

This is the second largest selection of any bank in Singapore, after HSBC. But where Citi wins is that all partners share the same ratio, which creates opportunities for outsized value. For example, you can book Business Class awards from Singapore to the USA for 80,000 miles with EVA Air Infinity MileageLands, compared to 107,000 – 111,500 miles for KrisFlyer.

Sharing the same ratio also means that the earn rates for Citi cards are the same across all partners; e.g. if you spend in SGD with the Citi PremierMiles Card, you earn 1.2 mpd regardless of which partner you choose.

While transfers are generally completed within 24-72 hours, they are not instant. 

How to earn more Citi Miles and ThankYou points

Welcome offers

Here’s a summary of the welcome offers featuring Citi Miles and ThankYou points, available at the time of writing.

Card	Min. Spend	Bonus
Citi Prestige Card Apply	S$2,000 in first 2-3 months	125,000 TY points (50,000 miles)
Citi Rewards Card Apply	S$800 in first 2-3 months	40,000 TY points (16,000 miles)
Citi PremierMiles Card Apply	S$800 in first 2-3 months	30,000 Citi Miles (30,000 miles)

Since welcome bonuses frequently change, I’d advise you to refer to my monthly roundup of credit card sign-up bonuses for the latest deals.

Amaze + Citi Rewards

The Citi Rewards Card earns 10 ThankYou points per S$1 (4 mpd) on all online transactions (except travel and mobile wallet).

An easy way of expanding this is to pair it with the Amaze Card, which converts all offline transactions into online ones. With this pairing, you should be able to easily max out the bonus cap of S$1,000 per statement month.

Citi PayAll

Citi PayAll allows cardholders to rack up Citi Miles or ThankYou points when paying bills like rental, insurance premiums, education expenses, income tax, MCST fees, charitable donations and more.

A 2.6% admin fee applies, but Citi runs frequent promotions that boost the earn rate, which in turn lowers the cost per mile. The current offer (valid till 28 February 2025) features a rate of 1.75 mpd with a minimum payment of S$5,000, reducing the cost per mile to 1.49 cents each.

HSBC

HSBC Points
Expiry	37 months
Minimum Conversion	10,000 miles (subsequent conversions of 2 miles)
Pooling	Yes
Transfer Partners	20 (⚡ 18 instant)
Transfer Fees	Free

Expiry

HSBC Points earned expire 37 months following the time they were earned.

Minimum Conversion

A minimum conversion of 10,000 miles is required, though subsequent conversions are in blocks of just 2 miles. For example, you could convert 10,248 miles, or 204,214 miles if you so wished.

Pooling

HSBC points have been pooled ever since May 2024. Therefore, you can combine points across multiple cards in a single redemption.

Transfer Partners, Fees and Speed

HSBC Points earned on the TravelOne Card can be converted to 20 different partners, with fees waived until further notice.

✈️ HSBC TravelOne Airline Partners
Frequent Flyer Programme	Conversion Ratio (HSBC Points : Partner)
	50,000 : 10,000
	35,000 : 10,000
	35,000 : 10,000
	35,000 : 10,000
	35,000 : 10,000
	35,000 : 10,000
	30,000 : 10,000
	30,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000

🏨 HSBC TravelOne Hotel Partners
Hotel Programme	Conversion Ratio (HSBC Points : Partner)
	30,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 5,000
	25,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000

While this is by far the most of any bank in Singapore, not all partners share the same ratio. 

For airlines, the ratio is anywhere from 25,000-50,000 points : 10,000 miles. That makes a big difference, because the HSBC TravelOne Card’s advertised rates of 1.2/2.4 mpd on local/overseas spending only hold if you choose a partner with a ratio of 25,000 points : 10,000 miles. If you chose a 50,000 points : 10,000 miles partner instead, for example, the earn rates drop to 0.6/1.2 mpd!

It’s worth noting in particular that HSBC devalued transfers to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer in January 2025, increasing the cost from 25,000 points to 30,000 points per 10,000 miles. 

How to earn more HSBC points

Welcome offers

Here’s a summary of the welcome offers featuring HSBC points, available at the time of writing.

Card	Min. Spend	Bonus
HSBC Premier Mastercard Apply	S$4,000 in the first 1-2 months	120,000 HSBC points (24,000 to 48,000 miles)
HSBC TravelOne Card Apply	S$800 in the first 1-2 months	60,000 HSBC points (12,000 to 24,000 miles)

Since welcome bonuses frequently change, I’d advise you to refer to my monthly roundup of credit card sign-up bonuses for the latest deals.

HeyMax

Max Miles
Expiry	None
Minimum Conversion	1,000 miles (subsequent conversions of 100 miles)
Pooling	N/A
Transfer Partners	27 (⚡ 16 instant)
Transfer Fees	Free

I know, it’s not a bank. But this article would be somewhat incomplete without mentioning Max Miles, the loyalty currency of HeyMax.

Expiry

Max Miles do not expire.

Minimum Conversion

Max Miles has two types of partners:

• Direct points transfer (16)
• Cash for miles (11)

For direct points transfer partners, a minimum conversion of 1,000 Max Miles is required, with subsequent conversions in blocks of 100 Max Miles.

For cash for miles partners, a minimum conversion of 10,000 Max Miles is required, with subsequent conversions in blocks of 1,000 Max Miles.

Transfer Partners, Fees and Speed

There are no fees for converting Max Miles.

Direct points transfer partners offer instant conversions. 

Cash for miles partners are a little more complicated. After submitting a redemption request, HeyMax customer support will respond to you with a prepaid Visa card. This Visa card can then be used to purchase points via the airline or hotel’s official portal. 

You can expect the entire process to take about a week, from the time of initiating the request to the time the points reflect in your account. 

How to earn more Max Miles

Chocolate Visa Card

Chocolate Visa Card

Apply here

From 11 February 2025, the Chocolate Visa Card will award:

• 2 Max Miles per S$1 on the first S$1,000 of spend per calendar month
• 0.4 Max Miles per S$1 on all spend above S$1,000 per calendar month

This applies to both online and offline transactions, in local or foreign currency (FCY). All FCY transactions will be converted into SGD at the prevailing Visa rates, with no further FCY transaction fee.

The only transactions that are excluded from earning Max Miles are MCCs related to money transfers or prepaid account top-ups (e.g. GrabPay, YouTrip).

There is a maximum limit of S$5,000 per transaction and S$20,000 per day on the Chocolate Visa Card. Unlike wallet-backed cards like Revolut or YouTrip, there is no annual spend limit.

There is currently no end date for this promotion, which will continue until further notice.

Conclusion

Your credit card miles strategy shouldn’t just focus on quantity of points, but quality as well. If I had the option of earning 4 mpd on a given transaction with either the Citi Rewards or DBS Woman’s World Card, I might opt for the former because of its more versatile points. 

That’s especially the case for those who are willing to venture beyond Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer and explore the sweet spots that other frequent flyer programmes have to offer. 

What’s your favourite credit card points currency?