In an effort to give its rewards cardholders more flexibility and options with their rewards points, MasterCard has partnered with Toronto-based Points International Ltd. Through the partnership, cardholders will have more ways to redeem, exchange and trade the points they earn.

"Consumers have said loudly and clearly that they want increased flexibility with their rewards," said Nandan Mer, group executive, MasterCard Loyalty Solutions in a statement. "Our enhanced solution delivers just that -- the ability to exchange, trade, buy and gift rewards points. We believe this truly unique and superior redemption experience delivers even more value to all involved."

MasterCard plans for this partnership to create extra value for the banks that issue MasterCard credit cards and participate in the MasterCard Rewards Platform, which is a loyalty technology platform designed to help these banks manage their rewards programs. MasterCard hopes that the Points partnership will increase the value of the banks' rewards programs and encourage their cardholders to engage more with their loyalty programs.

Points is a technology company that specializes in loyalty currency management. Its various loyalty eCommerce technology platforms allow companies to expand their loyalty programs by allowing their members to buy and gift points and miles. They can also transfer points and miles with friends and family. Points also has software services that let eCommerce retailers add loyalty programs to their online stores and give points at the point of purchase.

Additional features allow members to earn points or miles more quickly or simply. The Accelerator gives members the chance to multiply the points or miles they earn for specified bookings. With the Inline Top Up feature, members can buy points while they're booking flights online. They can also top up their accounts by using Points' Call Center feature and talking to a customer service representative to buy points and miles. Points also has a feature that allows customers to acquire elite status more easily by either buying the points or miles they need, or purchasing the status outright.

Points also offers the Points.com Consumer Hub, an online portal where consumers can track multiple loyalty programs in one place. At the hub, they can monitor their points or miles balances for different loyalty programs. They can exchange points and miles between their different loyalty accounts or they can trade points or miles with other users. They can also spend points on the hub to purchase things, including gift cards from popular retailers like Amazon.com. Another way to spend points is through low balance offers to pay for online services like Ancestry.com or LifeLock. Finally, consumers can also redeem points for cash, which is transferred via PayPal.

Points' client list features over 100 loyalty programs, including top airlines such as American Airlines, Delta, Southwest, United Airlines and US Airways; hotel programs from Hyatt, International Hotels Group, Starwood Hotels and Resorts and Wyndham; retailers like Best Buy; and even Speedway gas stations. It also includes American Express and Chase as some of its financial services clients.

"While the financial services industry has been a keen focus for some time, we are especially excited to be partnering with a leading organization like MasterCard," said Rob MacLean, CEO of Points, in a statement. "Together, we are enhancing and differentiating issuer rewards programs hosted on the MasterCard Rewards Platform, and making them more attractive to consumers."

While MasterCard hasn't specified the details around this new offering and how it will work for consumers who have MasterCards, it's working with Points on their initial integration phase and plan for cardholders to be able to take advantage of the program later this year.