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SINCE RCBC absorbed the entire Bankard operation
three years ago, the credit card brand issued by the bank is
experiencing hefty year-on-year growth and is now regarded as a
market leader.
Card issuance jumped by an
astounding 201 percent as the company reported 170,000 new cards
issued in 2008 compared with just 57,000 in 2006. The total number
of cards currently in force stands at 407,000 last year, 32-percent
higher than in 2007.
Also, actual cardholder base grew
45 percent to 344,000 as of end-2008 principally due to new
co-branding partnerships and aggressive marketing to select
customers.
In a speech during RCBC’s
annual stockholders’ meeting, President and Chief Executive
Officer Lorenzo Tan pointed out that the company was able “to
forge strategic partnerships, which resulted in a milestone product
offering in consumer financing.”
RCBC Bankard also gained more
accounts under its name as its acquiring billings surged from P8.5
billion in 2006 to P12.1 billion in 2008, while its issuing billings
rose from P7.5 billion to P11 billion.
Cardholders’ reliance of the
brand is evident as the number of transactions also rose to 4.5
million last year compared with 3.5 million in 2006, while
delinquency rate substantially declined from 11.4 percent to 7.9
percent also in the same period.
For his part, accomplished credit
card industry veteran, Bankard President and Chief Executive Officer
Oscar Biason said: “Innovative marketing practices, meticulous
examination of our portfolio and an insistence of giving advanced
benefits for our cardholders make us more and more preferred over
other brands.”
Biason believes that the
public’s renewed confidence in the Bankard brand, as well as their
preference for it, are clearly manifested in the success of the
company’s two recently launched credit card products.
The RCBC Bankard
Landmark-Anson’s card, a product of a tie-up with one of the
country’s leading department stores and appliance centers, is
among the most successful co-branded cards, gaining 2,500
applications on the first day alone. The bank has now issued over
26,000 of this card.
The RCBC Bankard
Landmark-Anson’s card offers a lot of enticing features for
shoppers, such as the valuable Weekly Wednesday Discounts that give
5-percent off on regular items at Landmark Department Stores,
1-percent off inside the Landmark Supermarket, and 5-percent off on
selected home and kitchen appliances at Anson’s. It also gives
higher rewards points for every purchase, free membership fee for
the first 12 months, and an ultra low membership fee for the second
year onwards.
Another new card, the LJC-RCBC
Bankard MasterCard, is a unique, first-of-its-kind dining card in
partnership with the highly esteemed LJC Restaurant Group.
Envisioned to provide cardholders with a value-packed dining card,
it offers 10 percent discount all year round and lots of freebies.
Bankard, a pioneer in the credit
card industry, has over 25 years of experience of card issuing and
acquiring. Following the sale of its entire business and all assets
to RCBC, the company re-branded its cards from Bankard to RCBC
Bankard and now manages the bank’s credit card portfolio
consisting of MasterCard, Visa and JCB labels.
RCBC, on the other hand, is
currently the country’s fourth largest private local universal
bank in terms of loans and capital. It has 330 branches and 424 ATMs
nationwide and is a strong player in the remittance business with a
wide presence overseas through remittance subsidiaries and tie-ups
in North America, Europe and Hong Kong.
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