DBS Bank Taiwan yesterday launched a new credit card targeting young Taiwanese, as it seeks to become the nation’s second-largest foreign credit card issuer.
The “Live Fresh” cards provide users with cash rebates of 2.5 percent for overseas purchases and 1.2 percent for domestic transactions, the Singaporean lender said.
“DBS assigns great importance to the credit card business and the new cards demonstrate our seriousness about it,” DBS Bank Taiwan managing director Lim Him-chuan (林鑫川) told a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: Lee Chin-hui, Taipei Times
The move comes slightly more than a month after the bank released its DBS Flying World cards, which offer generous mileage benefits.
The Live Fresh cards aim to win over customers aged up to 35, who might soon become the dominant group of consumers, said Calvin Lin (林群凱), executive director of cards and unsecured loans.
The card features designs by Singaporean sneaker artist and street-wear designer Mark Ong (王衛國).
The collaboration might help boost the card’s appeal, as Ong’s designs are so popular that even Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) has praised him as a brave young celebrity who is willing to part with tradition to pursue his dreams, the lender said.
As of last month, DBS Taiwan was the third-largest foreign credit card issuer after Citibank Taiwan and HSBC Bank Taiwan, data on the Financial Supervisory Commission’s Web site showed.
“We aim to expand our market share and win new customers through innovative marketing strategies and competitive propositions,” Lin said.
The bank has issued 60,000 travel cards since their release in the middle of last month, and has a long list of applicants, he said.
DBS Taiwan expects the Live Fresh cards to make a similar splash, Lin said.
New cardholders could receive cash rebates of up to 8.88 percent, with a monthly cap of NT$500, through the end of October, he said.
Cardholders would also receive a 10 percent discount on transactions at OK Mini, vending machines at the convenience store chain OK Mart, he said.
The lender encourages potential customers to apply for DBS credit cards online, he said, adding that successful applicants could also receive NT$50 cash rebates for shopping at 7-Eleven convenience stores.
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