Desmond Leong’s presentation at the FM Singapore Summit 2026argued that broker loyalty programs should be treated less as a giveaway schemeand more as a structured retention engine that shapes client behavior acrossthe full lifecycle, from onboarding to re-engagement. The core message was simple: acquisition costs are rising,and brokers that still frame loyalty as “trade more, earn more” are leavingretention, lifetime value, and platform activity on the table.As client acquisition becomes more expensive and brokerofferings increasingly converge around the same familiar promises of tightspreads, fast execution, and standard trading platforms, loyalty programs areemerging as a new battleground for differentiation. Brokers Turn to Loyalty as Acquisition Costs Climb Speaking at the Craft Stage during the FM Singapore Summit2026, Returning.AI CEO Desmond Leong argued that many brokers are approachingthe opportunity the wrong way, treating loyalty as a transactional rewardsscheme instead of a broader retention system built to influence behaviour,deepen engagement, and ultimately improve lifetime value.Keep reading: “The Question Is No Longer If You Hold Gold, but How and Where You Hold It”: Topics from FM Singapore Summit 2026Leong, whose company develops gamified engagement andloyalty tools for brokers, framed the issue bluntly: the real value of loyaltyprograms lies not in handing out points after trades, but in creating aretention layer that nudges users through the entire customer journey.In his telling, the strongest programs reward progress, notjust volume, meaning brokers should think beyond lots traded and incentivisemilestones such as KYC completion, first deposit, first trade, daily activity,and redeposits. From Spins to Streaks: Gamification for Predictable ActivityThat logic extends even further into social engagement,where some brokers are rewarding clients for liking, commenting on, orreposting company content, turning passive account holders into visiblecontributors to the brand’s online credibility.One of the clearest themes in the session was thatgamification works best when it is tied to repeat behaviour rather than one-offexcitement. Leong pointed to the now-common “spin the wheel” mechanic butargued that its real power lies in streaks, multipliers, and routines that pulltraders back into the client portal day after day.He described examples in which brokers tied spins to dailylogins or activity across multiple asset classes, creating habits thatpersisted even through holiday periods and quieter trading windows. Controlling Reward Costs Without Killing MotivationThe business logic, he suggested, is less about theshort-lived dopamine hit and more about predictability: once traders have builta streak, brokers are in a stronger position to present campaigns, prompts, andredeposit offers while the client is already engaged inside the platform.Cost control formed the second major pillar of his argument.Loyalty programs can quickly become expensive if they simply award more pointsto bigger traders without any cap or structure, especially when heavy-volumeclients are able to redeem top-tier rewards almost immediately. Leong’s proposed fix was to introduce what he called apremium currency, a separate reward layer unlocked after a trader reaches adaily threshold. Rather than presenting this as a hard cap, the broker reframesthe experience around unlocking access to benefits that “money can’t buy,”preserving motivation while keeping the underlying economics manageable.Turning Reward Stores Into Trading Engines That same commercial discipline, he argued, should alsoshape the reward store itself. Aspirational prizes such as iPhones, AirPods,gold bars, or even cars may help attract attention, but they can also alarmfinance teams worried about cash leakage and redemption costs. The smarter approach, Leong said, is to redirect value backinto the trading ecosystem through non-withdrawable trading credit. By offeringclients a slightly higher notional value if they choose credit instead ofphysical delivery, brokers can make the reward feel more attractive whilereducing the true cost of fulfilment.More from then event: “Gold Is Where Speculators Go, Because It’s Cheapest to Leverage”: FM Singapore Summit 2026 NotesThe principle, as he described it, is to maximise perceivedvalue while minimising actual cost. Perhaps the most interesting insight fromthe session came from his discussion of introducing shared loyalty logic acrossretail traders and introducing brokers. Many firms still separate the two,building one rewards system for clients and another for partners. Leong said some brokers that aligned the programs moreclosely saw an unexpected behavioural shift: introducing brokers became lesslikely to withdraw commissions immediately and more likely to move funds intoretail trading accounts in order to participate in the same incentivestructure. Aligning IB and Retail IncentivesWhat began as a loyalty design choice, in other words, endedup influencing wallet behaviour and internal fund flows in ways the brokers hadnot initially planned for.Leong’s final warning was against treating loyalty as astatic add-on. In his view, the most effective programs function as a liveoperating tool for sales and marketing teams, not merely a passive rewardsledger. A broker that sees a client’s activity slowing, for example,can use boosters, streak-saving interventions, or targeted incentives tointervene before churn takes hold. Sales teams, meanwhile, can use spins,points, or limited-time loyalty perks as low-cost closing tools when trying toconvert prospects in a market where product differences are often marginal. InAsia especially, he noted, relationship-building still matters, and loyaltymechanics can give brokers a more systematic way to create goodwill at scale.From Cosmetic Feature to Retention Infrastructure Taken together, the presentation was less a celebration ofrewards than a critique of shallow incentive design. Leong’s five mistakes all pointed back to the same broaderlesson: loyalty programs only work when they are built as part of a broker’sretention, marketing, and revenue strategy rather than bolted on as cosmeticdifferentiation. At a time when brokers are under pressure to justifyacquisition spend and extend client lifetime value, that distinction isbecoming harder to ignore.This article was written by Jared Kirui at www.financemagnates.com.