DBS Bank Taiwan yesterday launched a travel credit card aimed at attracting Taiwanese travelers in a bid to boost its retail banking business.
The move came six months after the largest lender in Singapore acquired Australia and New Zealand Banking Group’s (ANZ) Asian retail and wealth management businesses, adding 500,000 cardholders to its clientele roster.
“DBS Taiwan has gained significant headway in mortgage, car lending and wealth management operations for the past 10 years, but remains wanting in its credit card business,” DBS senior executive adviser Jerry Chen (陳亮丞) told a news conference in Taipei.
The lender used to only offer credit cards to its local staffers and wealth management customers, but is poised for a more inclusive approach.
Credit cards are the last missing piece in the bank’s product line that is most rewarding among foreign lenders, DBS consumer banking managing director Seraph Sun (孫可基) said.
The lender expects to issue more than 100,000 DBS Flying World Cards in collaboration with MasterCard Inc, which would allow cardholders to earn a mile point for every NT$15 spent abroad and every NT$18 spent in Taiwan, consumer banking director Samuel Chang (張善湧) said.
New cardholders could win 10,000 mile points, sufficient for a round-trip ticket in Asia, upon paying the annual fee of NT$3,600, Chang said.
ANZ customers would be spared the annual fee if they switch cards, he added.
The credit card business is competitive in Taiwan and abroad, as assorted bonuses and rewards squeeze profit, but it helps win customers and access to other business opportunities, Chang said.
According to a MasterCard survey, more than 65 percent of Taiwanese traveled abroad at least once last year and spent an average of NT$46,706 per person.
The spending ranked sixth-highest in the Asia-Pacific region and is five times the amount for domestic travel, the survey showed.
Taiwanese spent an average of NT$9,323 on domestic travel with most of the sum going to hotel accommodation, it said.
DBS cardholders could stay at partner hotels for daily room rates of at least NT$2,500, Chang said.
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