Air Miles Middle East Agrees Multi-Year Partnership Extension with HSBC

DUBAI, UAE, January 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Aimia, a global leader in loyalty management, today announced agreement of a multi-year extension with founding partner HSBC for its participation in the Air Miles programme in the Middle East.

"We are delighted with HSBC's decision to extend their commitment to the Air Miles programme with the signing of this new agreement. Our coalition programmes deliver strong benefits to our partners and customers and we continue to see strong results and success of the Air Miles programme in the Middle East," said David Johnston, Aimia's COO.

The extension to the partnership, which began in 2001 when the Air Miles programme launched, means that members will continue to collect Air Miles every time they use their HSBC credit card, and will also earn Air Miles twice whenever they use their HSBC credit card alongside their Air Miles card at the more than 120 partner outlets across the region. Air Miles partners include Sharaf DG, Damas, Lamcy Plaza, Arabian Center, Pan Emirates, Bin Sina Pharmacy and Zurich Insurance

Paul Lacey, Aimia Middle East Managing Director, says: "Air Miles is the leading coalition loyalty programme in the region, and we are extremely pleased to be continuing our relationship with HSBC, one of the programme's founding partners. We look forward to working with HSBC to continue to strengthen and develop the programme over the coming years."

Air Miles Middle East operates throughout the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain. 

About Air Miles Middle East 

• Air Miles Middle East is the region's largest loyalty programme and managed by Rewards Management Middle East, which is 60 per cent owned by Aimia, a global leader in loyalty management
• Air Miles Middle East has delivered over 760,000 rewarding experiences to its members since launching in 2001
• If you placed the 1.7 million issued air miles cards in the region side by side they would stretch from Dubai to Abu Dhabi (approximately 120km)
• Air Miles Middle East employs over 20 nationalities, helping the organisation really understand its multi-cultural membership

About Aimia 

Aimia Inc. ("Aimia") is a global leader in loyalty management. Employing more than 4,300 people in 20 countries worldwide, Aimia offers clients, partners and members proven expertise in launching and managing coalition loyalty programs, delivering proprietary loyalty services, creating value through loyalty analytics and driving innovation in the emerging digital, mobile and social communications spaces.

Aimia owns and operates Aeroplan, Canada's premier coalition loyalty program, Nectar, the United Kingdom's largest coalition loyalty program, Nectar Italia, Italy's largest coalition program and Smart Button, a leading provider of SaaS loyalty solutions. In addition, Aimia owns stakes in Air Miles Middle East, Travel Club, Spain's leading coalition loyalty program, Club Premier, Mexico's leading coalition loyalty program, China Rewards, the first coalition loyalty program in China that enables members to earn and redeem a common currency, Think Big, the owner and operator of BIG - AirAsia and Tune Group's loyalty program and i2c, a joint venture with Sainsbury's offering insight and data analytics services in the UK to retailers and suppliers.  Aimia also holds a minority position in Cardlytics, a US-based private company operating in card-linked marketing and Fractal Analytics, a provider of advanced analytics.  Aimia is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: AIM). For more information, visit us at http://www.aimia.com. 

Krista Pawley, Vice President, Global Communications, Aimia, +1-416-352-3794, krista.pawley@aimia.com; Ian Hainey at IHC for Air Miles Middle East, +971-50-466-1368, ian@ih-c.com ; Analysts and Investors: Angela McMonagle, +1-647-428-5280, angela.mcmonagle@aimia.com