HSBC Bank (Taiwan) Ltd (匯豐台灣商銀) aims to double online credit card applications by the end of this year, as digital banking becomes more popular and convenient, retail banking chief Linda Yip (葉清玉) said yesterday.
More than 40 percent of its customers file credit card applications online, Yip said, adding that the lender aims to raise the ratio to 80 percent by year-end.
“The goal is achievable, as many Taiwanese conduct all kinds of banking business over the Internet,” Yip told reporters in Taipei.
Even customers who visit the bank’s 30 brick-and-mortar branches in Taiwan would receive help to file applications online, which would be settled within 24 hours, Yip said.
HSBC employees and customers need to embrace the digital migration, as technology plays an increasingly important role in people’s lives, she said.
The 40 percent penetration rate in Taiwan is the highest globally after HSBC Taiwan launched online applications late last year, thanks to the popularity of smartphones, Yip said.
The lender issued 28,600 credit cards in the first quarter, a 36 percent increase from the same period last year, Yip said, citing Financial Supervisory Commission data.
Total credit card payments rose 23 percent year-on-year to NT$12.7 billion (US$423.62 million) in the January-to-March quarter, while average credit-card spending hit a record NT$13,520 per month, Yip said.
She attributed the improvement to the lender’s strategy to focus on travel-oriented cardholders, who could receive 2.22 percent cash rebates for overseas purchases and 1.22 percent for domestic purchases when using an HSBC credit card.
“We have successfully built customer loyalty by providing simple and easy rewards,” Yip said.
HSBC Taiwan is in the second half of the year to expand its online services to include real-time transactions of foreign stocks and indexed funds in a continued bid to win customers, Yip said.
Meanwhile, the lender is to upgrade its automated teller machines from next month and is to update its logo to make it more recognizable, Yip said, adding that the campaign would cost tens of millions of New Taiwan dollars.
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