Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia has unveiled a major overhaul to its credit card offerings, including the discontinuation of several cashback credit cards and an across-the-board increase in the minimum annual income requirement for its remaining cards to RM96,000.
The sole exception to this sweeping change is the Priority Banking Visa Infinite, which I have recently reviewed, remains unaffected.
This development comes just weeks after Standard Chartered raised the income requirement for its Standard Chartered Journey Mastercard—a card I have consistently recommended on Refined Points—from RM90,000 to RM96,000.
While the remaining cards in the bank’s lineup don’t warrant detailed analysis due to their lackluster benefits, the Standard Chartered Visa Platinum has undergone a minor revamp worth examining.
Let’s dive into what’s changed.
Changes to the Standard Chartered Visa Platinum
The Standard Chartered Visa Platinum has appeared sporadically on Refined Points, but it has never earned a spot in my Ultimate Guides. The reason? Its historically poor airline miles accrual rates.
To recap, the card previously offered 5X points on dining, department stores, and overseas spending, translating to an abysmal 0.15 miles per RM1 (MPR) in those categories. Yes, you read that correctly—one of the lowest accrual rates in the industry.
With the latest changes, the card now earns 5X points on groceries (replacing department stores) and 8X points on overseas spending. This revision results in an unchanged 0.15 MPR for dining and groceries but a slightly better 0.24 MPR for overseas spending. Unfortunately, even with this improvement, the card remains far behind its competitors.
On a more positive note, the Visa Platinum offers a bonus of 5,000 points for every RM1,500 spent on online transactions each month. This bonus applies universally to all online spending, including e-wallet reloads, with no caps or restrictions on merchant categories.
However, even in the most favorable scenario—spending RM1,500 on overseas transactions (which earn 8X points)—you would accumulate 17,000 points from the base spending and an additional 5,000 points as a bonus, for a total of 22,000 points. This equates to a 0.51 MPR, which is better but still unimpressive.
To add insult to injury, the minimum points required for conversion to airline miles with this card stands at 33,000, making the process frustratingly inefficient for most users.
Final Thoughts: A Puzzling Strategy
Standard Chartered Malaysia’s recent moves beg the question: What exactly is the bank aiming to achieve? While the increased income requirements suggest a desire to target more affluent customers, the actual card offerings fail to deliver the kind of value that would resonate with this demographic.
The tweaks to the Visa Platinum, while incremental, do little to elevate its appeal. With airline miles accrual rates that remain among the lowest in the market and a high threshold for points-to-miles conversion, the card falls short of being competitive, even for casual travelers. The additional bonus for online spending, while a step in the right direction, feels like too little, too late to attract serious interest from savvy cardholders.
For a bank attempting to position itself as a premium player, these changes appear out of sync with market expectations. Competitors are offering far more compelling benefits, including higher miles accrual rates, broader earning categories, and streamlined redemption processes.
Without significant enhancements, Standard Chartered risks alienating both existing customers and potential new ones in an already crowded credit card space.
Ultimately, these changes feel like a missed opportunity. If Standard Chartered truly intends to cater to affluent customers, it must deliver more meaningful value propositions—because as it stands, these adjustments are unlikely to win over the discerning spender.
