Banca Transilvania’s Star program has reached two milestones: 800,000 Star shopping cards and a growing community of 50,000 partner stores, both brick-and-mortar and online.

Since its launch, Star has evolved from a loyalty program into an ecosystem of payments, credit, and merchant benefits. It is currently the most extensive network of partner merchants in Romania, offering benefits to both Banca Transilvania customers and merchants who use the bank’s payment solutions—physical POS and POS App, e-commerce solutions, and the “Pay with BT Pay” online payment option.

We have built an ecosystem around the Star program that brings together customers, merchants, and technology to make things simple, accessible, and relevant at every stage of the shopping experience. Through Star and BT Pay, we want to be part of our customers’ important decisions, while giving them the freedom and flexibility they need.

Oana Ilaș
Deputy General Manager, Retail Banking,
, Banca Transilvania

What Are Star Cards for Customers?

Customers who use Star cards at stores participating in the program enjoy flexible payment options and a loyalty program: 

• Interest-free installments – up to 18 installments at Star partner merchants for products and services across all categories, including auto liability (RCA), travel, and home insurance policies issued through BT Pay. Star cards are most frequently used for interest-free installment purchases in the electronics, home & garden, insurance, and travel categories, which confirms their role in both everyday spending and planned purchases.
  
  
• Star loyalty points for every full payment, with 1 Star point equal to 1 leu: 0.3% for payments made in Romania and 0.1% for payments made abroad, plus up to 10% from partner merchants. The most common purchases made with Star points are electronics, home & garden products, items purchased at pharmacies, and clothing.
  
  
• Exclusive offers from partner stores, available on BT Pay.
  
  
• Comprehensive management in BT Pay—apply for or increase your credit line, with the option to use the card immediately after it is issued, as well as manage it.  

What does Star mean for merchants who are part of the program?

For merchants, joining the Star program means increased sales, higher average basket size, competitive differentiation, brand visibility, and customer loyalty.

BT’s leadership in the card market

Banca Transilvania is the leader in Romania's card market in terms of both card issuance and acceptance.

Currently, the BT ecosystem includes 8.5 million cards, the BT Pay and BT Go apps, over 2,000 ATMs, 150,000 physical POS terminals, 9,000 e-commerce terminals, approximately 90,000 installed SoftPOS solutions (BT POS App), and “Pay with BT Pay,” an option integrated into approximately 35,000 websites and apps. These figures reflect the significant acceleration in the adoption of digital payment solutions, particularly in the area of mobile acceptance, as the smartphone has become an essential tool for both payments and collections.