Ouch: Standard Chartered removing all Airline/Hotel transfer partners, except for KrisFlyer and Asia Miles

Standard Chartered Singapore announced today that it is discontinuing all hotel and airline transfers on the SC EasyRewards programme next month.

Removal of Airline and Hotel transfer partners

From 24 March 2024, Standard Chartered cardholders will no longer be able to convert their credit card points to the following loyalty programs:

❌ EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
❌ Qatar Airways Privilege Club
❌ KLM/Air France Flying Blue
❌ Qantas Frequent Flyer
❌ Etihad Guest
❌ Emirates Skywards
❌ United MileagePlus
❌ Accor Live Limitless
❌ IHG One Rewards

Moving forward, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer and Cathay Pacific Asia Miles will be the only options for miles/points conversions from Standard Chartered cards, under the 360° Rewards programme.

Related: Singapore Bank Transfer Partners of Credit Card Miles and Points

In truth, most of the axed transfer partners above came with poor transfer ratios, except for Infinity MileageLands, Flying Blue and Qantas Frequent Flyer. So, those are the real losses, as miles in those frequent flyer programs are great for award redemptions to/from Europe and North Asia.

Are there any good Standard Chartered cards in Singapore?

Whether you’re interested in miles or cashback, there are only 2 noteworthy SC cards in Singapore presently:

1. SC Journey: Groceries, Food Delivery, Ride-hailing, General Spending
2. SC Smart: Public Transport, Fast Food, Streaming Services

3.5Suitesmile's overall rating of this card (out of 5), all things considered. This includes how it compares against alternative miles/cashback cards, its annual fee, and how easy (or hard) it is to achieve the advertised benefits.

Standard Chartered Journey Card

Promo 1: Fulfilled by Standard Chartered

Reward
75,000 points
^{(30,000 miles equivalent)}

How to qualify?

Be a new credit cardholder of the bank ^{Those who cancelled their last credit card with the bank more than 12 months ago will also qualify.}
Apply by 30 Sep 2026
Spend at least S$800 within 60 days after card approval date ^{Meet this minimum spending in one or more transactions. It is recommended to spend this entire amount at least 5 days early, so that all transactions are posted in time.}
Pay S$196.20 annual fee
Use code C4C64 if prompted

Terms & conditions

Apply

📄 Find out more about this promo

Promo 2: Fulfilled by SingSaver

Reward (choose one)
• S$180 cash
• Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro (worth S$349)
• Samsonite luggage (worth S$600)
+
75,000 points*
^{(30,000 miles equivalent, for paying annual fee)}

How to qualify?

Be a new credit cardholder of the bank ^{Those who cancelled their last credit card with the bank more than 12 months ago will also qualify.}
Apply by 30 Sep 2026
Spend at least S$800 within 60 days after card approval date ^{Meet this minimum spending in one or more transactions. It is recommended to spend this entire amount at least 5 days early, so that all transactions are posted in time.}
Pay S$196.20 annual fee
Apply for SC EasyPay, Bonus$aver Account, CashOne Personal Loan or Credit Card Funds Transfer
Submit rewards redemption form that you receive via email (from SingSaver)

Terms & conditions

Apply

*Points fulfilled by Standard Chartered

Get 2 free airport lounge visits per year, earn 3 mpd on groceries, 1.2 mpd on local spending and 2 mpd on foreign currencies

Apply

Card details

Key details of the Standard Chartered Journey Card

Card rating ^{Suitesmile's overall rating of this card (out of 5), all things considered. This includes how it compares against alternative miles/cashback cards, its annual fee, and how easy (or hard) it is to achieve the advertised benefits.}:
Ease of use ^{A rating (out of 5 stars) of how easy it is to achieve the maximum earn rate and other benefits advertised by this card.}:
Minimum annual income:• S’porean/PR: S$30,000
• Foreigner: S$90,000Annual fee: S$196.20 (first year waived; always comes with 10,000 miles, but request waiver every year ^{Paying S$196.20 for 10,000 miles is not worth it, unless if you need the miles urgently.})

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 Get 2 free airport lounge visits per card membership year ^{Get 2 free airport lounge visits worldwide via Priority Pass. Entitlement can be used for lounges, restaurants and spas, for the principal cardholder and guest. Supplementary cardholders do not have any airport lounge entitlement.}
 Earn 3 mpd on groceries, food deliveries and ride-hailing, up to S$1,000 per statement month
 No minimum spending
 Miles don’t expire

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Low earn rates on non-bonus spending (spend with 4 mpd cards instead):
• 1.2 mpd on local spending
• 2 mpd on foreign currency spending Only 2 useful miles transfer partners
3.5% foreign transaction fee

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📄 Quick review

More information on the

Standard Chartered Journey Card

Suitesmile rating:

---

✍️ Short summary
Cardholders can earn 3 miles per dollar on groceries, food deliveries and ride-hailing, up to S$1,000 per statement month.

For other spending categories, this card gives you an uncapped earn rate of 1.2 miles per dollar on SGD spending and 2 miles per dollar on foreign currency spending.

Cardholders are also entitled to 2 free airport lounge visits (via Priority Pass) per card membership year.

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💸 Annual fee
S$196.20
(First year waived, get 10,000 miles with subsequent annual fee payments)

💼 Income requirement
S’porean/PR: S$30,000/year,
Foreigner: S$90,000/year

🤑 Foreign currency fee
3.5%

🛋️ Airport lounge access
2 free lounge visits per card membership year
(via Priority Pass)

⏰ Points expiry
Points earned on this card never expire

🫱‍🫲 Transfer partners
KrisFlyer and Asia Miles

💯 Transfer ratio
2.5 points = 1 mile

🧮 Transfer block
25,000 points (10,000 miles)

💲 Transfer fee
S$27 per transfer

🤗 Points pooling
Points from this card can be combined with those from other Standard Chartered cards and transferred out together at once.

❓ When points are credited
Base points are credited immediately when the transaction is posted.

📜 Terms & conditions

🎁 Sign-up promo

2Suitesmile's overall rating of this card (out of 5), all things considered. This includes how it compares against alternative miles/cashback cards, its annual fee, and how easy (or hard) it is to achieve the advertised benefits.

Standard Chartered Smart Card

Promo 1: Fulfilled by Standard Chartered

Reward
S$100 cashback
+
Samsonite luggage (worth S$610)

How to qualify?

Be a new credit cardholder of the bank Those who cancelled their last credit card with the bank more than 12 months ago will also qualify.
Apply by 31 Mar 2026
Spend at least S$800 within 60 days after card approval date Meet this minimum spending in one or more transactions. It is recommended to spend this entire amount at least 5 days early, so that all transactions are posted in time.
Use code C4C64 if prompted

Terms & conditions

Apply

Promo 2: Fulfilled by SingSaver

Reward (choose one)
• S$230 cash
• S$250 Grab voucher
• Apple AirPods 4 (worth S$249)
• Hinomi Q1 chair (worth S$499)

How to qualify?

Be a new credit cardholder of the bank Those who cancelled their last credit card with the bank more than 12 months ago will also qualify.
Apply by 2 Feb 2026
Spend at least S$800 within 30 days after card approval date Meet this minimum spending in one or more transactions. It is recommended to spend this entire amount at least 5 days early, so that all transactions are posted in time.
Apply for SC EasyPay, Bonus$aver Account, CashOne Personal Loan or Credit Card Funds Transfer
Submit rewards redemption form that you receive via email (from SingSaver)

Terms & conditions

Apply

Get 8% or 10% cashback on selected fast food, streaming, public transport and EV charging merchants

Apply

Card details

Key details of the Standard Chartered Smart Card

Card rating ^{Suitesmile's overall rating of this card (out of 5), all things considered. This includes how it compares against alternative miles/cashback cards, its annual fee, and how easy (or hard) it is to achieve the advertised benefits.}:
Ease of use ^{A rating (out of 5 stars) of how easy it is to achieve the maximum earn rate and other benefits advertised by this card.}:
Minimum annual income:• S’porean/PR: S$30,000
• Foreigner: S$90,000Annual fee: S$99.19 (first year waived; request waiver every year)

---

 Get 8% or 10% cashback on selected fast food, streaming services, public transport and EV charging merchants
 Uncapped earn rates

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Minimum card spend of S$800 and S$1,600 per statement month required for 8% and 10% bonus cashback, respectively
0.5 – 1% cashback on non-bonus spending
3.5% foreign transaction fee

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📄 Quick review

More information on the

Standard Chartered Smart Card

Suitesmile rating:

---

✍️ Short summary

This card gives you uncapped 8% or 10% cashback at specific merchants when spending at least S$800 or S$1,500 per statement month respectively.

Selected merchants include:

• Public Transport (Bus and MRT via SimplyGo)
• McDonald’s
• KFC
• Burger King
• Starbucks
• Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
• Ya Kun Kaya Toast
• Toast Box
• Netflix
• Spotify
• YouTube
• Disney+
• Amazon Prime

These are not merchants where most people spend over S$800 per month at. All spending under S$800 per statement month earn just 0.5% cashback.

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💸 Annual fee
S$99.19/year
(First year waived)

💼 Income requirement
S’porean/PR: S$30,000/year,
Foreigner: S$90,000/year

🤑 Foreign currency fee
3.5%

❓ How points are credited
1.6 base points will be credited when the transactions are posted and 24/28.8 bonus points 1 day after the statement date.

📜 Terms & conditions

🎁 Sign-up promo

Psst...check out the latest credit card sign-up promos for September 2026:

Citibank S$430 cash Citibank | or 16k miles › HSBC S$450 cash HSBC | or 20k miles › OCBC S$420 cash OCBC | or S$450 Grab vouchers › DBS S$320 cashDBS | or S$350 eCapitaVoucher › CIMB Samsonite + S$50 cashCIMB › View all banks ›

Should you cancel your Standard Chartered Journey card?

The Standard Chartered Journey card launched less than a year ago, with a good sign-up bonus and promising benefits.

By cutting out the transfer partners, this card lost its greatest feature, points flexibility.

There’s no longer a good reason to keep the Standard Chartered Journey card, so yes, I would start making plans to transfer out all remaining points, and cancel the card by 24 March 2024.

Sure, the points on this card do not expire, and cardholders can earn 3 mpd on groceries, food deliveries and ride-hailing (up to $1,000 per month). But there are other cards in Singapore offering similar or better earn rates on those spending categories!

Should you cancel your Standard Chartered Smart card?

Standard Chartered Smart cardholders enjoy a 5.6 mpd earn rate (or 6% cashback) on public transport, selected fast food restaurants and streaming services, up to $818 per statement month. All other transactions earn just 0.46 mpd (or 0.5% cashback).

While the 5.6 mpd earn rate is great, let’s be real, do you spend a meaningful amount on public transport, fast food and Netflix to earn enough miles to redeem for future travels?

Forget the miles earn rate. This is a cashback card.

This card does not come with any annual fee and is the best card for Public Transport spending with a 6% cashback and no minimum spending requirement. Keep it, if you use public transport in Singapore.

Bottom line

Looks like it’s back to square one. Just like CIMB, the only good reason to sign up for a Standard Chartered card is (once again) for its attractive year-round sign-up bonuses; and rinse, and repeat.

Perhaps we’ll see a specialized card with a 4 mpd earn rate in the future, or maybe a revival of the Manhattan card, which was great for large purchases.

But for now, the sensible thing for me to do is to transfer out all the remaining points on my card, cancel it before the first annual fee hits, and look out for another good SC sign-up bonus 12 months from now, as a new-to-bank customer.

Cover Photo: The Straits Times

H/T: Mainly Miles