• South Korea’s credit card spending reached a record high in
2006 according to local reports…
• MBF Cards (Malaysia) will open its merchant network to JCB
International starting January 2007 and is aiming to sign up
approximately 10,000 JCB merchants in the first 12 months…
Go deeper with GlobalData
• Visa International (Thailand) expects that in 2007 spending
through credit cards will grow by 20 percent and the number of
cards issued will grow by 25 percent from the 6 million cards in
the market at present…
• The Fair Trade Commission, South Korea’s corporate watchdog, has
approved Shinhan Financial Group’s takeover of LG Card, the
country’s top credit card company, in a deal valued at $5.5
billion. Shinhan Financial bought a 61 percent stake of LG Card
from its creditors in December in a move that will increase its
market share to more than 20 percent. One in every four South
Koreans has an account with LG Card.
• South Korea’s credit card spending reached a record high in 2006
according to local reports. Credit card sales reached $238.1
billion in 2006, an increase of 14.8 percent from the previous
year. The figure excludes card loans and overseas credit card
spending. Credit card spending reached an all-time peak in December
2006.
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By GlobalData• Visa International has signed a strategic alliance with Bank of
China aimed at boosting business through the 2008 Olympic Games in
Beijing. The two parties will collaborate in on-site ATMs and POS
machines, Olympic ticket sales, online sales of officially licensed
Olympic products, and development of new Olympic-themed products.
Bank of China is the banking partner of the 2008 Olympic Games,
while Visa is the only official electronic payment brand and
payment service provider.
• Japan’s smallest wireless operator, Softbank, plans to issue
credit cards linked to mobile phone accounts through a partnership
with the country’s largest credit card issuer, Credit Saison.
Mobile phone customers of Softbank will be able to accumulate
points when spending with the credit card, which they can use to
pay for mobile music downloads and other mobile phone-related
fees.
• Malaysian Airline System (MAS) is targeting about 100,000 new
members for its Enrich loyalty programme in the first year of its
partnership with Malaysian bank CIMB and is focused on building the
membership base in 2007. Enrich currently has 1.2 million members.
MAS expects a 20 percent revenue growth from partnerships with
credit card issuers and merchants in 2007.
• HSBC Malaysia and Maybank scored the highest marks in registering
overall satisfaction with their cardholders in Malaysia, according
to a local survey by research company Ratera & Van Galen.
Citibank still retains the largest share of the credit card market
– 32 percent of the population have a credit card with Citibank,
although 74 percent of Malaysians hold a product with Maybank, the
country’s largest bank. MasterCard was the most popular with an 87
percent share of cardholders while Visa had an 81 percent share.
The survey, which had 2,000 interview respondents, also found that
Malaysians used their credit card 11 times per month for a monthly
average total of MYR1,624 ($464).
• Alliance Bank recently launched its Business Platinum MasterCard
to support its move into the small- and medium-sized enterprise
(SME) segment. The bank has over 40,000 customers in that segment
and is optimistic of its potential, given that there are 500,000
SMEs in Malaysia. The card is targeted at reducing business costs
by simplifying the procurement and financial process for SMEs. It
will also allow SMEs to purchase office equipment at discounted
prices or at zero percent instalment plans. The redemption
programme is tailored towards business equipment, office furniture
and airline points.
• MBF Cards (Malaysia) will open its merchant network to JCB
International starting January 2007 and is aiming to sign up
approximately 10,000 JCB merchants in the first 12 months. JCB
notes that there is an increasing number of its cardholders
travelling to the region who will benefit from this
arrangement.
• Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia has launched a card protection
plan that offers a 24-hour ‘one call does it all’ line for members
to report the loss of their bank cards, loyalty cards, driving
licence, passport and other valuable documents. The scheme is
offered in association with Card Protection Plan. The bank says
that this will be the first of 50 product launches in 2007. It
expects a 15 percent growth in the credit card market this year
given the strong economic conditions and reports 17 percent to 18
percent growth for the past two to three years.
• Average- to lower-income Singaporeans will soon have access to
credit cards due to a recent amendment to the Banking Act.
Previously, banks could issue cards only to people with a minimum
monthly income of S$30,000 ($19,550) but new laws exempt cards with
small credit amounts from the regulation and the Monetary Authority
of Singapore has set the ceiling at S$500. Also exempt are cards
issued by stores that issue cards to their customers for purchases
with a deferred payment scheme. This move is to allow flexibility
in payments for small-ticket items while addressing concerns of
increasing debt levels. Singapore banks are still studying the
feasibility of this market segment and have yet to respond with a
product.
• Visa International (Thailand) expects to launch contactless
payment technology to Thai consumers in 2007. Visa expects 3
million contactless cards to be in use by the middle of the year in
the region for daily transactions such as mass transit payments,
taxis and department store purchases. Malaysia has about 270,000
contactless cards in circulation, Korea has 80,100 and Taiwan has
800,000. Three months after introduction of the contactless cards,
20,000 to 30,000 of them are expected to be available in the Thai
market, growing to 100,000 to 500,000 within one year when the
local mass transportation systems are brought into the network.
Banks would need to invest at least THB100 million ($2.94 million)
but Visa estimates that the technology can pay for itself within 18
to 24 months.
• Visa International (Thailand) expects that in 2007 spending
through credit cards will grow by 20 percent and the number of
cards issued will grow by 25 percent from the 6 million cards in
the market at present. Somboon Krobtheeranond, manager of Visa
Thailand, also projected that magnetic stripe cards would be
replaced by chip cards in the next three years.
• Thailand’s National Interbank Transaction Management Exchange has
selected IBM, eFunds and Infomax to implement a new national
payment network to automate transaction and settlement processing.
The new network will automate transaction processing and eliminate
the need for individual banks to upgrade and maintain their own
payment systems. Additionally, it will streamline credit and debit
card management, providing real-time and batch transaction
processing together with fraud and risk management capabilities.
The network will manage in excess of 1.5 million transactions per
day.
