RBC, Shoppers Drug Mart

Royal Bank of Canada and Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. announced they’re launching the RBC Shoppers Optimum card on March 17.

Through it, cardholders can earn twice as many Optimum points every time they make a purchase at a Shoppers Drug Mart store (Pharmaprix in Quebec) and also earn points on purchases made at other retailers, says an article in the Toronto Star.

Shoppers will introduce RBC bank machines in 300 of its 1,200 stores across the country.

The Star reports that 85 per cent of Shoppers customers are not customers of RBC, so salespeople in Shoppers’ stores will promote the product and eventually sell them on other financial services, from mortgages to insurance.

The move comes three months after BMO Bank of Montreal launched a co-branded debit card with Sobeys.

However, the BMO Club Sobeys card is a discount banking product, similar to those offered by ING or PC financial, featuring a no-fee chequing account and high-interest savings account.

The RBC Shoppers Optimum card will be a full-service product, much like the bank’s no-limit chequing account with a monthly fee of $10.95 and unlimited debit transactions.

RBC and Shoppers say they will jointly offer additional banking and insurance products, although no specifics were announced.

Shoppers offers a co-branded Optimum credit card with MasterCard.

Members of Shoppers’ Optimum loyalty program currently earn 10 points for every $1 spent in the store.

With an RBC Optimum card, they’ll earn an additional 10 points in Shoppers and a single point for every $1 spent at other locations.

Holders of other RBC loyalty cards will be able to transfer those points to the Optimum program if they wish, using them to buy drugstore merchandise instead of travel.