CIMB Offers Up to 25% Bonus Asia Miles with Cathay

CIMB is back with another airline miles conversion promotion, and this time, it is for Cathay Asia Miles.

From now until 31 August 2026, eligible CIMB credit cardholders can receive an additional 15% Extra Asia Miles when converting CIMB Bonus Points to Asia Miles. This stacks with Cathay’s ongoing 10% Extra Asia Miles global bank conversion campaign, which runs until 31 July 2026.

In other words, if you play the dates correctly, you can receive up to 25% Extra Asia Miles when converting CIMB Bonus Points. That is objectively a strong promotion, especially because CIMB appears to be the only Malaysian bank offering an additional top-up on top of Cathay’s global 10% campaign.

However, let’s not get carried away.

This is a good promotion, but it does not magically erase CIMB’s structural weaknesses. The bank’s conversion mechanics remain unnecessarily restrictive, particularly due to its high minimum conversion block of 75,000 Bonus Points to 5,000 Asia Miles.

So, while this is a useful promotion for the right cardholder, it is not something I would blindly chase without a proper redemption plan.

Promotion and Mechanics

The campaign is open to principal CIMB Bonus Points credit cardholders.

Under this campaign, that same conversion can earn from Cathay’s 10% global campaign and an additional 15% from CIMB's campaign. On paper, that is a clean 25% uplift.

However, there are two separate campaign periods to understand.

• Cathay’s 10% Extra Asia Miles campaign runs from 25 June 2026 to 31 July 2026.

• CIMB’s additional 15% Extra Asia Miles campaign runs from 25 June 2026 to 31 August 2026.

This means the full 25% bonus is only available if you register for Cathay’s campaign and convert your CIMB Bonus Points by 31 July 2026.

Source: CIMB

If you convert in August, you should only expect the CIMB-funded 15% bonus, not the full 25%.

You MUST register with Cathay before conversion. If you convert first and register later, I would not assume that Cathay will backdate anything. The 10% Extra Asia Miles from Cathay will only be credited by 31 October 2026.

Meanwhile, the 15% Extra Asia Miles from CIMB will be credited within three weeks after the end of CIMB’s campaign period.

As always, CIMB requires cardholders to convert a minimum of 75,000 Bonus Points into 5,000 Asia Miles at any given time.

Why This Promotion Matters

A 25% conversion bonus can materially change the effective value of your CIMB Bonus Points.

CIMB’s credit cards do not always look best-in-class when you compare raw MPR rates against UOB. In many cases, UOB remains stronger on headline earn rates, especially for Asia Miles and KrisFlyer miles.

However, transfer bonuses can narrow that gap. If one bank earns miles faster on paper, but another bank offers a meaningful conversion bonus, the real-world difference becomes less obvious. That is exactly what makes this promotion interesting.

CIMB has now offered several notable airline partner campaigns in recent memory, including a 30% Bonus Avios promotion, a 50% Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles promotion, and now up to 25% bonus Asia Miles with Cathay.

Asia Miles remains one of the most useful frequent flyer programs for Malaysians because it gives access not only to Cathay Pacific, but also to Oneworld partner airlines such as Japan Airlines, Qatar Airways, British Airways, Qantas, Finnair, and others.

This promotion is worth considering if you already have CIMB Bonus Points sitting around and you have a clear use case for Asia Miles. For example, if you are planning a Cathay Pacific or Oneworld redemption in the next six to twelve months, this is a reasonable opportunity to convert. A 25% uplift is meaningful, and Asia Miles remains a very useful currency when used properly.

As always, the promotion is only good if it fits your strategy.

Final Thoughts

CIMB’s latest Asia Miles conversion promotion is a genuinely good one, but it needs to be viewed with the right level of perspective. If you are already planning to convert CIMB Bonus Points to Asia Miles, this is probably one of the better windows to do so.

That said, this promotion does not suddenly make CIMB flawless. The bank still suffers from restrictive conversion mechanics, particularly the requirement to convert in blocks of 75,000 Bonus Points to 5,000 Asia Miles. That is clunky, especially for anyone who wants flexibility or only needs a small top-up for a redemption.

CIMB also still trails stronger competitors in certain raw MPR comparisons, particularly when benchmarked against UOB’s more streamlined ecosystem. For day-to-day miles accumulation and fast redemption mechanics, UOB remains hard to beat.

Where CIMB does continue to stand out is in its airline partner variety and occasional transfer bonuses. Avios, Turkish Miles&Smiles, and Asia Miles are all useful programs in different ways, and CIMB’s ability to run targeted promotions with these partners adds real value.

If you already hold CIMB Bonus Points and have a real Asia Miles redemption in mind, this is a strong promotion worth using.

If you are thinking of switching your entire credit card strategy just because of this campaign, I would not go that far.

A 25% bonus is attractive, but a good airline miles strategy is not built on one-off promotions alone. It is built on earn rates, conversion flexibility, redemption access, timing, and how well the card actually fits your spending behaviour.