Method and system for issuing, aggregating and redeeming merchant loyalty points with an acquiring bank

A method of operating a reward points program in conjunction with a network, the network interconnecting with a plurality of merchant computers and an acquiring bank computer that processes payment card transactions with a plurality of users on behalf of the plurality of merchant computers, each of said merchant computers associated with a merchant and the acquiring bank computer associated with an acquiring bank, the method comprising:

• a. providing, at the acquiring bank computer, a reward point account database that stores a plurality of reward point accounts, each of said reward point accounts associated with a unique combination of a user and a merchant for tracking reward points earned by the user associated with that reward point account for transactions with the merchant associated with that reward point account, wherein all reward point accounts associated with a particular user are accessible with a user ID of a payment card associated with that particular user regardless of which merchant is associated with that reward point account,
• b. a user executing a purchase transaction with a transacting merchant computer selected from the plurality of merchant computers by presenting a payment card for use by the transacting merchant computer for payment of at least part of the purchase transaction;
• c. the transacting merchant computer transmitting via the computer network a transaction request to the acquiring bank computer, the transaction request comprising a user ID as obtained from the payment card and a payment approval request for the purchase transaction;
• d. the acquiring bank computer adding reward points to the reward point account in the reward point account database that is associated with the user identified by the user ID and the transacting merchant;
• e. establishing on the reward point account database a reward point exchange account associated with a user;
• f. selecting reward points from each of a plurality of reward point accounts associated with the user for exchange into the reward point exchange account;
• and
• g. aggregating the selected reward points into the reward point exchange account.