Westpac announced on 1 November that they will no longer offer new American Express cards from 1 February 2018, with Westpac American Express cards to be phased out completely by 4 April 2018. In taking this decision, Westpac joins ANZ and NAB in ditching American Express companion cards as too expensive - a reaction to the Reserve Bank of Australia's decision to cap to all surcharges, restricting credit card interchange fees to a maximum of 0.80 per cent. But, at the same time, Westpac has come up with a way to bypass the RBA surcharge limits and keep its big spending Amex-loving customers on side.In the past year, there has been a significant drop in companion card offerings, according to financial products comparison site mozo.com.au. ANZ terminated their companion card offering in March 2017, while NAB also ended their dual card arrangement this month, Mozo noted. "The writing is on the wall for American Express companion cards with Westpac's latest decision delivering a huge blow to their customers' points earning capacity which could halve depending on their spending habits," said Kirsty Lamont, a Mozo director.But in a move that financial product rating firm Canstar called "unique from the other major banks", Westpac has signed a deal with Amex to introduce two new cards issued and serviced directly by Amex, available exclusively to "eligible Westpac cardholders".Canstar's group manager of research and ratings, Mitch Watson, said the introduction of these new cards is good news for the bank and its customers."Fans of the higher points earning potential that is usually associated with American Express cards can breathe a sigh of relief," said Mr Watson."As these cards will be issued by American Express, and not an Australian bank, they will not be subject to the RBA's regulations that came in to effect on 1 July 2017."This development is effectively a creative way to navigate around the RBA's regulations and is positive news for consumers who collect rewards points," said Watson."These new products will allow consumers to continue to earn rewards points into their existing rewards accounts and include the additional benefits that come with an Amex card, such as uncapped points, complimentary insurances, and other American Express benefits."While the Commonwealth Bank remains the only major bank to keep their dual cards, it moved earlier in the year to slash its higher American Express earns rates unless used overseas or at specific merchants. "The major shake-up of the credit card rewards product category has left many big bank customers questioning whether higher interest rates are worth the trade-off for paltry rewards," said Lamont.Mozo's analysis showed that, to gain the rewards once available via American Express companion cards, consumers should look for a stand-alone card most appropriate for their spending scenario - and there are almost 200 variations to choose from."Our research reveals that big spenders can still achieve high returns on rewards cards; with higher spend levels resulting in significantly higher rewards," said Lamont. Big spenders reap the greatest rewards return with the highest