Desmond Leong’s presentation at the FM Summit Singapore 2026 argued that intermediary loyalty programs should be treated less as an endowment scheme and more as a structured retention engine that shapes customer behavior across the entire lifecycle, from onboarding to re-engagement.
The underlying message was simple: acquisition costs are rising, and brokers who still view loyalty as “trade more, earn more” are leaving retention, lifetime value, and platform activity on the table.
As a customer acquisition As they become more expensive and broker offerings increasingly converge around the same familiar promises of tight spreads, fast execution and standardized trading platforms, loyalty programs are emerging as a new battleground for differentiation.
Brokers resort to loyalty as acquisition costs rise
Speaking at the Craft Stage during the FM Summit Singapore 2026, Desmond Leong, CEO of Returning.AI, argued that many brokers are approaching opportunity the wrong way, treating loyalty as a transactional rewards system rather than a broader retention system designed to influence behaviour, deepen engagement and ultimately improve lifetime value.
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Leung, whose company develops engagement and loyalty tools for brokers, put the issue bluntly: The real value of loyalty programs lies not in doling out points after trades, but in creating a retention layer that drives users through the entire customer journey.
In his telling, the most powerful programs reward progress, not just volume, meaning brokers must think beyond traded contracts and incentivize milestones such as KYC completion, first deposit, first trade, daily activity, and re-deposit.
From Cycles to Streams: Gamification of Predictable Activity
This logic extends even further to social sharing, where some brokers reward customers for liking, commenting on or reposting company content, turning passive account holders into visible contributors to a brand’s online credibility.
One of the clearest themes of the session was that gamification works best when associated with repeat behavior rather than one-time excitement. Leung pointed to the now-common “spin the wheel” mechanism, but said its real power lies in the lines, complications and routines that draw traders back to the client portal day after day.
He described examples where brokers linked cycles to daily login or activity across multiple asset classes, creating habits that persisted even during holiday periods and quieter trading windows.
Control reward costs without killing motivation
He suggested that the business logic is less about a short-term dopamine hit than predictability: once traders have built a series of offers, brokers are in a stronger position to make campaigns, claims, and re-deposit offers while the client is already engaged within the platform.
Cost control formed the second main pillar of his argument. Loyalty programs can quickly become expensive if they simply award more points to larger traders without any cap or structure, especially when high-volume customers can redeem their top-tier rewards almost immediately.
Leung’s solution was to offer what he called token currency, a separate reward layer that unlocks after a trader reaches a daily limit. Rather than presenting this as a hard cap, the broker is reframing the experience around opening access to benefits that “money can’t buy”, maintaining incentive while keeping the underlying economics in check.
Turn reward stores into commerce engines
The same business discipline should also shape the reward store itself, he said. Ambitious prizes like iPhones, AirPods, gold bars or even cars may help attract attention, but they can also unnerve finance teams worried about cash leaks and redemption costs.
A smarter approach is to redirect value back into the trading ecosystem through non-retractable trade credit, Leong said. By offering customers a slightly higher notional value if they choose credit rather than physical delivery, brokers can make the reward look more attractive while reducing the true cost of fulfillment.
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The principle, as he described it, is to maximize perceived value while minimizing actual cost. Perhaps the most interesting takeaway from the session came from his discussion of introducing a shared loyalty logic across retailers and IBs. Many companies still separate the two, building a rewards system for customers and another for partners.
Leung said some brokers who aligned programs more closely saw an unexpected behavioral shift: Introducing brokers became less likely to withdraw commissions immediately and more likely to move funds to…
Retail trade Accounts in order to participate in the same incentive structure.
Aligning IB and retail incentives
In other words, what started out as a loyalty design choice, ended up influencing portfolio behavior and internal fund flows in ways that brokers did not initially plan for.
Young’s final warning was not to treat loyalty as a fixed add-on. In his view, the most effective programs serve as a living operating tool for sales and marketing teams, not just a passive rewards record.
For example, a broker who sees that a client’s activity is slowing down can use reinforcements, plan-saving interventions, or targeted incentives to intervene before disruption takes hold. Meanwhile, sales teams can use limited-time courses, points, or loyalty perks as low-cost closing tools when trying to convert leads in a market where product differences are often marginal. He noted that in Asia in particular, relationship building is still important, and loyalty mechanisms can give intermediaries a more systematic way to create goodwill at scale.
From cosmetic features to retention infrastructure
In sum, the presentation was less a celebration of rewards and more a critique of superficial incentive design. Leung’s five mistakes all point to the same broader lesson: Loyalty programs only work when they are created as part of a broker’s retention, marketing and revenue strategy rather than installed as cosmetic differentiation.
At a time when brokers are under pressure to justify spending on acquisition and expanding customer lifetime value, this distinction is becoming harder to ignore.
This article was written by Jared Kirroy at www.financemagnates.com.
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