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American Express still confident about market

American Express Bank Ltd, the third-largest US credit card network, yesterday launched a co-branded gold card with a local air carrier, saying it remained confident about Taiwan's credit card market and would target the upscale segment in particular.

The credit card, issued jointly with EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空), the nation's second-largest carrier, was the first of its kind American Express has launched in the last 18 months since standards for card applications became more strict, Tiffany Chen (陳淑芬), public affairs manager at the bank, said in a telephone interview yesterday.

Like its local and foreign rivals, Chen said, American Express would continue issuing new credit cards in Taiwan, as the market has gradually recovered from the unsecured consumer lending problem.

"But we will be more prudent in reviewing applications and will develop new credit payment products appealing to high-income and high-spending customers," Chen said.

In Taiwan, many local banks reported weakened profitability in the past two years owing to a sluggish domestic credit market, forcing them to shift focus to syndication loans, trade finance and cash management to improve bottom lines.

In the first eight months of the year, the credit card revolving balance totaled NT$2.53 trillion (US$77.7 billion), down NT$984 billion, or 28.1 percent, from NT$3.51 trillion for the same period last year, data on the Banking Bureau's Web site showed.

However, the data provided by the bureau, which falls under the Financial Supervisory Commission, showed the total credit payments amounted to NT$944.5 billion, an increase of NT$17.1 billion, or 1.85 percent, from NT$927.5 billion a year earlier.

"The government data showed that despite a drop in the revolving balance, the purchasing power of upscale customers remains strong, as evidenced by the rising credit payment figures," Chen said.

The financial regulator said last week that indicators showed the nation's credit card business was stabilizing.

Based on the commission's latest figures, the number of active credit cards grew by 60,000 cards, or 0.31 percent, to 19.62 million in August from the previous month.

Even so, Chen declined to offer an estimated target for the new co-branded card with EVA Airways, saying that American Express would focus on the average spending per card rather than the number of cards issued.

"The average spending per American Express card is about NT$20,000, which is four times larger than the market average of between NT$5,000 and NT$6,000 per card," Chen said.

American Express had 151,142 credit cards in circulation in Taiwan as of July, with 94,809 cards in active use, Bank Bureau data showed.
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