Back in February we wrote about the HSBC Revolution card extending its 4 mpd bonus spend categories through to the end of March 2026, the latest in a series of extensions to the “Revo Up” promotion that originally launched in July 2025.

That temporary deal restored travel and contactless spending bonuses that had been axed in 2024, and was always accompanied by a lingering question: would HSBC ever make it permanent again?

Now we have our answer – and it’s better than most of us expected.

From 1st April 2026, the HSBC Revolution card’s bonus earn rate on travel and contactless spend categories will be permanently restored at 4 mpd (10x Reward points).

On top of that, a new 8 mpd tier (20x Reward points) will be available for cardholders who maintain at least S$50,000 in average daily balance in a HSBC Everyday Global Account.

The card will also be upgraded from Visa Platinum to Visa Signature, and complimentary travel insurance will be reinstated, a benefit that was removed only a year ago in April 2025.

  APPLY HERE

What’s changing from 1st April 2026

4 mpd for all cardholders
(permanent)

The headline news for most cardholders is that the travel and contactless spending bonuses from the Revo Up promotion are here to stay.

From 1st April 2026, all Revolution cardholders will earn 10x Reward points per S$1 (4 mpd) on eligible contactless payments and online transactions across the familiar bonus categories: dining, shopping, travel, ride-hailing, taxis and memberships.

All other qualifying transactions continue to earn 1 Reward point per S$1 (0.4 mpd).

However, the monthly bonus cap will revert to S$1,000 (9,000 bonus points), down from the S$1,500 promotional cap currently in place. Still, over a year that’s up to 108,000 bonus points from bonus spend, or roughly 43,200 miles at the bank’s top 2.5:1 ratio transfer partners.

8 mpd for EGA customers with S$50,000 ADB (new)

Now for the headline upgrade we didn’t see coming.

If you also hold a sole HSBC Everyday Global Account (SGD account) and maintain an average daily balance (ADB) of at least S$50,000 in any given calendar month, you’ll earn 20x Reward points per S$1 (8 mpd) on eligible transactions that month, double the standard 10x.

The monthly bonus cap for this enhanced tier is set at S$1,200 (22,800 bonus points), higher than the standard S$1,000 cap, but still lower than the current promotional S$1,500 level.

A few important things to note about this enhanced tier:

To unlock the full 8 mpd (20x points), you’ll need to keep at least S$50,000 average daily balance (ADB) in a sole HSBC Everyday Global Account (SGD-denominated only, joint accounts don’t qualify).

Your eligibility resets every calendar month: hit the threshold that month, and you get the boosted rate and higher cap on spend posted during it. Miss it, and you drop back to the standard 4 mpd.

Important: only cash sitting in the EGA SGD account counts toward the S$50,000. No equities, unit trusts, fixed deposits, insurance policies, or other HSBC wealth products will help here, even if you’re a Premier customer. It’s pure bank balance or nothing for this perk.

Summary of earn rates (from 1st April 2026)
	Standard cardholders	Enhanced cardholders (S$50K ADB in EGA)
Bonus earn rate	10x points 4 mpd	20x points 8 mpd
Monthly bonus cap	9,000 points (S$1,000)	22,800 points (S$1,200)
Base earn rate	1x points 0.4 mpd	1x points 0.4 mpd
Annual max. bonus	108,000 points 43,200 miles	273,600 points 109,440 miles

Remember, the 4 mpd and 8 mpd headline rates assume a 2.5:1 transfer ratio (e.g. British Airways Avios, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, EVA Air Infinity MileageLands).

For KrisFlyer, which uses a 3:1 ratio, the effective rates are 3.33 mpd and 6.66 mpd respectively, still strong numbers even if you’re a KrisFlyer addict.

Eligible bonus categories

The bonus categories remain unchanged from the Revo Up promotion. Eligible contactless and online transactions must fall within these MCCs:

Travel transactions
(online or contactless)

The HSBC Revolution card will permanently recognise the following spend category for 4 mpd earning:

• Travel (airlines, hotels, car rentals, cruises)

These purchases, made online or via contactless payment, must fall under the following MCCs to earn at the 4 mpd / 8 mpd rate for the first $1,500 of monthly spend.

Online or contactless Travel including Airlines, Hotels, Car Rental and Cruises
Eligible MCCs	Example Merchants
3000 to 3350 3351 to 3500 3501 to 3999 4411 7011	Singapore Airlines, Scoot, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, Airbnb, Hertz, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Royal Caribbean

Keep in mind that MCC 4722 (Travel Agencies and Tour Operators) is excluded from this list. That means bookings made through online travel platforms such as Agoda, Booking.com, Expedia, Hotels.com, Kayak, Klook, KKday, Pelago and won’t qualify for the bonus.

Contactless-only payments

In addition to the travel categories listed above, the HSBC Revolution card will also permanently recognise the following spend categories for 4 mpd / 8 mpd earning when making contactless payment:

• Shopping (department stores, electronics, clothing, pharmacies, bookstores)
• Dining (restaurants, bars, cafes)
• Transportation (taxis, ride-hailing)
• Memberships (country clubs, sports clubs)

These online and contactless purchases will have to fall under the following MCCs to earn at the 4 mpd rate for the first $1,500 of monthly spend, and remember the cap is shared with the online travel spend MCCs listed above.

Department Stores and Retail Stores
Eligible MCCs	Example Merchants
4816, 5045, 5262, 5309, 5310, 5311, 5331, 5399, 5611, 5621, 5631, 5641, 5651, 5655, 5661, 5691, 5699, 5732, 5733, 5734, 5735, 5912, 5942, 5992, 5999 5944 to 5949 5964 to 5970	Amazon, Isetan, Marks & Spencer, Takashimaya, TANGS, Timberland, Mothercare, H&M, Zara, Pandora, Tory Burch, Uniqlo, ASOS, Skechers, Foot Locker, Zalora, Apple, Dell, Best Denki, Harvey Norman, Gain City, Courts, Cotton On, Shopee
Dining
Eligible MCCs	Example Merchants
5441, 5462, 5811, 5812, 5813	1-Altico, 7-Eleven, Atlas Bar, Brewerkz, Cheers, Fish & Co, Jumbo Seafood, Providore, Sheng Siong, Wine Connection
Transportation and Membership Clubs
Eligible MCCs	Example Merchants
4121, 7997	Comfort, Grab, gojek, TADA, Ryde, Fitness First, True Fitness, Sentosa Islander

Note that hotel dining is generally included, since these restaurants typically code under hotel MCCs like 3501 – 3999 (for larger hotels like the Ritz-Carlton) or 7011 (for smaller hotels like Capella, Raffles and the JW Marriott), which are included in the travel spend category.

Just tap to pay, in order to earn 4 mpd / 8 mpd.

Key exclusions to watch out for

Some notable MCCs remain excluded:

• MCC 4722 (Travel Agencies): Bookings through online travel agencies like Agoda, Expedia, Hotels.com, Klook, KKday, Pelago, and Trip.com will not earn bonus points. Book directly with airlines and hotels to earn the bonus.
• MCC 5814 (Fast Food): This excludes food delivery platforms like Deliveroo and Foodpanda, as well as some outlets that code unexpectedly under this MCC (some cafes and restaurants have been known to fall under 5814).
• MCC 4111 (SimplyGo / public transport): No contactless bonus here.

Visa Signature upgrade

In other news, all HSBC Revolution cards will be automatically upgraded from Visa Platinum to Visa Signature on 1st April 2026.

What do you actually gain?

• Access to Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection (potential upgrades, breakfast, etc.)
• Fast-track Avis President’s Circle status
• Access to exclusive Visa Signature deals

Honestly, if you’re already holding cards like the DBS Altitude or UOB Visa Signature, these extras might feel redundant. Still, it’s a nice free upgrade for a no-fee card.

Complimentary travel insurance returns

Exactly one year after removing it, HSBC is reinstating complimentary travel insurance for Revolution cardholders. The coverage will kick in when you purchase air tickets with the card, or when you redeem miles for award tickets and pay the taxes and surcharges with the card.

While the specific policy document hasn’t been published yet, HSBC has indicated coverage will be similar to that offered on the HSBC Advance card, which includes emergency medical evacuation (S$1m), accidental death coverage (S$500,000), trip cancellation (S$2,000), delay cover (S$500), and loss of luggage (S$500).

It’s baseline cover, so you’ll almost certainly still want to have a parallel policy with more comprehensive coverage, for potentially expensive aspects like medical bills.

Is parking S$50,000 in the EGA worth it?

This is the key question for anyone considering the enhanced 8 mpd tier.

The benefit of the enhanced tier over the standard tier adds up to an additional 13,800 bonus points per month (22,800 instead of 9,000).

The value of those extra points depends on which airline programme you transfer to. At the best 2.5:1 ratio, that’s 5,520 additional miles per month. Over a year, that’s 66,240 extra miles – quite a meaningful boost.

But those extra miles come at the cost of locking up S$50,000 in an EGA SGD account, which pays a base interest rate of just 0.05% p.a. The opportunity cost depends on what you could earn on that S$50,000 elsewhere, for example in a high interest savings account, T-bills, or other instruments.

The EGA does offer periodic bonus interest promotions, and there’s also the Everyday+ Rewards programme which can add up to 1% p.a. in bonus interest on incremental ADB if you meet certain salary crediting and spending conditions.

But the calculations get complicated quickly, and whether the maths works out will depend heavily on your individual circumstances and how you value miles.

Even if you’re not a miles collector, 20x points translates to roughly 5% cashback equivalent within the HSBC rewards system, which is competitive in its own right.

There are similarities here to the UOB Lady’s card and Lady’s Savings Account combination, which offers an extra 2 mpd for maintaining S$10,000 in monthly average balance.

The HSBC Revolution requires a much higher deposit requirement (S$50,000 vs S$10,000) but also delivers a larger miles premium (an extra 4 mpd vs an extra 2 mpd), and benefits from a higher bonus cap.

What can you do with HSBC points?

HSBC Reward points can be transferred to 20 airline and hotel partners, but at several different transfer ratios.

Unfortunately transfers to KrisFlyer miles were recently devalued into a “3:1” ratio partner for the bank’s miles earning cards in Singapore. Here’s the full list of FFP transfer partners.

= Good transfer ratio
= Lousy transfer ratio

HSBC FFP Transfer Partners

FFP			Transfer Ratio
			35,000 10,000 35,000 10,000
			25,000 10,000 25,000 10,000
			30,000 10,000 30,000 10,000
			30,000 10,000 30,000 10,000
			35,000 10,000 35,000 10,000
			35,000 10,000 35,000 10,000
			25,000 10,000 25,000 10,000
			25,000 10,000 25,000 10,000
			50,000 10,000 50,000 10,000
			25,000 10,000 25,000 10,000
			35,000 10,000 35,000 10,000
			25,000 10,000 25,000 10,000
			25,000 10,000 25,000 10,000
			25,000 20,000 25,000 20,000
			25,000 10,000 25,000 10,000
			35,000 10,000 35,000 10,000

As you can see some of these options fall into our ‘lousy’ category – as KrisFlyer now do – due to their adverse transfer ratios, which effectively reduce the ‘advertised’ miles per dollar earn rate of your card compared to a 2.5:1 partner – like Asia Miles.

Nonetheless there are still some great options to consider here – including the British Airways Avios programme.

That one allows you to boost your Avios balance from an HSBC points transfer by doubling, tripling or quadrupling them, from 1.53 cents each, an option we recently revisited in detail – potentially unlocking rewards you didn’t think you could afford for a reasonable fee.

You can also transfer BA Avios points instantly, fee-free and 1:1 to and from the Qatar Airways Privilege Club, even after boosting them, so don’t bother with the HSBC’s lousy-ratio direct transfer option to Qatar Avios!

On the hotel side, HSBC cardholders can make transfers to four different loyalty programmes.

HSBC Hotel Transfer Partners

FFP			Transfer Ratio
			25,000 5,000 25,000 5,000
			25,000 10,000 25,000 10,000
			25,000 10,000 25,000 10,000
			30,000 10,000 30,000 10,000

In all cases the transfer ratios shown in the tables above represent the minimum transfer of HSBC Reward points to loyalty programme miles or points – after that it’s flexible.

Effective earn rates

Here’s where HSBC points get tricky – the earn rate depends on which airline you eventually transfer your points to.

Effective mpd rates by FFP partner

Partner Ratio				HSBC Revolution
				10x Bonus Spend
2.5:1				4 mpd
3:1				3.33 mpd
3.5:1				2.86 mpd
5:1				2 mpd

The “4 mpd” headline rate only applies if you transfer to partners with the best ratios. For KrisFlyer, Singapore’s most popular frequent flyer programme, you’re actually earning only 3.33 mpd under this deal.

As you can see, it’s British Airways Avios, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles and Air France-KLM Flying Blue that are among those with the best 2.5:1 transfer ratio.

All conversions are processed via the HSBC Singapore app and are instant (with a couple of exceptions), free of charge, and can be done in 2-mile increments after the initial 10,000-mile minimum — which is great for avoiding orphan points.

Points are also pooled across all your HSBC credit cards, so you don’t have to worry about your Revolution ones sitting in their own redemption account if you have more than one card with the bank.

After a bruising 2024 that saw the Revolution card stripped of travel bonuses, contactless bonuses, and even its travel insurance, this is quite a turnaround.

The permanent restoration of 4 mpd on travel and contactless spend, categories that many cardholders had mourned, means the Revolution is once again a genuinely competitive everyday spend card.

For those willing to commit S$50,000 to the EGA, the 8 mpd earn rate is outstanding, and will benefit from a higher S$1,200 monthly cap, making it one of Singapore’s top no-fee miles cards in 2026.

Add in the Visa Signature upgrade and the return of complimentary travel insurance, and the HSBC Revolution has gone from a card many were ready to cancel to one of the more compelling options on the market.

Remember that all changes take effect from 1st April 2026. Existing cardholders have nothing to do – all changes (including the Visa Signature upgrade) will be automatic from next month.

Full terms and conditions for the new Revolution programme are available here.

  APPLY HERE