CTBC Bank (中信銀行) yesterday gave an upbeat outlook for credit card spending next quarter, thanks to an easing of the COVID-19 situation, the launch of the Quintuple Stimulus Voucher program and the peak season for vehicle sales.
This should boost whole-year credit card spending by more than 7 percent year-on-year, the nation’s biggest credit card issuer said.
Credit card spending by the bank’s customers in the first quarter rose strongly from last year, but spending lost steam in the second quarter amid a worsening COVID-19 situation, bank executive vice president Anderson Chen (陳德風) told reporters at a news conference in Taipei, adding that transactions did not fully recover in July or August.
Photo: Lee Ching-hui, Taipei Times
However, thanks to robust growth in the first quarter, cumulative credit card spending in the first eight months of the year still registered an annual gain of 7 percent, higher than the national average of 3 percent, Chen said.
“We saw credit card spending begin to recover last month, and fueled by the Quintuple Stimulus Voucher program, spending in the fourth quarter is likely to rebound to first-quarter levels,” Chen said.
If the momentum holds, whole-year credit card spending would likely increase more than 7 percent, Chen said.
CTBC Bank yesterday issued a new cobranded credit card with partner Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), the local sales agent for Toyota and Lexus vehicles, with the aim of issuing at least 200,000 cards in one year, the bank said.
Collaboration with Hotai Motor and the new credit card are expected to generate new spending, as Hotai’s revenue is about NT$200 billion (US$7.18 billion) per year, mostly in cash, Chen said.
“While most local vehicle buyers need to make a cash purchase or take out a loan, we enable consumers to pay in full via our new cobranded credit card and reward them with 1 percent cashback,” Chen said.
If a card holder’s credit limit is lower than the vehicle’s sales price, they would need to deposit cash with the bank in advance to facilitate the payment, but they would still earn the reward points, Chen said.
This is CTBC Bank’s latest cobranded credit card, after the bank issued cards with CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and China Airlines Ltd (華航), company data showed.
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