KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 10): Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) aims to issue about 15,000 credit cards in the first year after it has rolled out its latest international sport franchise co-branded credit card - the Maybank FC Barcelona Cards - to further cement the bank’s leadership in the cards business.

Maybank's head of cards group community financial services, B Ravintharan, said with the launched of this new card Maybank will offer a complete range of FC Barcelona co-branded cards to suits its various retail customer segment through both the FC Barcelona Visa Signature Credit Card and Visa Debit Platinum Card in Malaysia.

“We anticipate that we will be issuing 15,000 new co-branded cards in the first year of launch and hope to expand the partnership to our other regional markets, where there is a demand and strong following of the FC Barcelona team with Singapore being the first overseas market in January 2018.

“This new card is targeted to our devoted FC Barcelona supporters, who are also our emerging affluent customers,” he told reporters during the joint launch of its latest cards with FC Barcelona today.

The cards was jointly launched by Ravintharan and FC Barcelona legend Gaizka Mendieta Zabala, who is a former midfileder of the club.

He said the Maybank FC Barcelona Cards offers a free for life annual fee, 2% cash back on retail spend all year round for 10 months capped at RM50 a month, 10% cash back on retail spend for the months of May and August capped at RM100 a month and additional 0.10% per annum interest rate on savings account for Barcelona debit cardholders who sign up for the Maybank2U premier account online.

The benefits from the use of the new cards include trips to Camp Nou - the home stadium of FC Barcelona - to watch a Barcelona match and attractive discounts for FC Barcelona match tickets and its merchandise.

Meanwhile, FC Barcelona commercial director Xavier Asensi said through this new partnership, FC Barcelona will be able to continue to increase its popularity while getting closer to their fans in Malaysia and Singapore.

“It is a pleasure that we welcome Maybank as a regional partner of the club in Malaysia and Singapore,” he said.

In 2011, Maybank launched their first co-branded credit card with Manchester United in Malaysia.

At the midday break today, Maybank shares remained unchanged at RM9.55 with 1.59 million shares traded, for a market capitalisation of RM101.06.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malayan Banking Bhd  (Maybank) is aiming for a percentage point growth, equivalent to RM2bil, in its billings market share to 30% for both its debit and credit cards in the next six months.

Maybank head (cards, group community financial services) B. Ravintharan, said the target was achievable as people’s spending and travelling were expected to escalate towards the end of the year.

“I foresee our cards billings market share which currently stands at 29% with a value close to RM50bil, can improve by another percentage point to 30% by the next six months. People are spending and travelling more around year-end.

“The industry’s billings market share is around RM180bil so an increment of 1% is equivalent to about RM2bil,” he told Bernama after launching a co-brand partnership with FC Barcelona in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.

Maybank is currently the leader in the cards business in Malaysia with over 11 million debit cards and two million credit cards in circulation. The bank commands over 20.5% share of the credit and charge card market in the country.

Ravintharan said the bank saw a growth of over 20% for debit cards and growth of slightly less than 10% for credit cards last year.

He said the debit card segment was expected to continue its double-digit growth next year while growth for credit card could be between 10% and 12%.

“Our target is more on increasing the billings. We want to engage with the customers and we want the customers (cards) to be active.

“It’s not about the number of cards, but it’s more about getting the customers to use the card, responsibly, so there will be less cash transactions at point of sales,” he said.

With regards to the co-partnership with FC Barcelona, the bank on Tuesday launched the Maybank FC Barcelona Visa Signature Credit Card and Visa Debit Platinum Card for the Malaysian market.

In his speech at the launch earlier, Ravintharan said the partnership with FC Barcelona represented another key step in the bank’s consumer banking strategy to ensure that it continued to build on its strong franchise in the region by offering distinct value propositions for different market segments.

“We expect to issue 15,000 new co-branded cards in the first year of launch and hope to be able to expand this partnership to our other regional markets, where there is a demand and strong following of the FC Barcelona team,” he said.

Ravintharan said Maybank was now considered the official bank for FC Barcelona in Malaysia and the bank would also be extending similar partnership to Singapore in January 2018, and tentatively to the Philippines and Cambodia next.

Meanwhile, FC Barcelona commercial director Xavier Asensi and its legend player Gaizka Mendieta, both of whom were present at the launching event, said through the new partnership, FC Barcelona would be able to continue to increase its popularity while getting closer to its fans.

Both Maybank and FC Barcelona shared an estimate that there are about four million FC Barcelona fans in Malaysia and 131 million fans in Asia. - Bernama

(From left) FC Barcelona commercial director Xavier Asensi, Ravintharan,
FC Barcelona legend Gaizka Mendieta Zabala, Maybank head of cards (Malaysia & Singapore) Karen Low,
and Visa group country manager Mandy Lamb.