05-08-2012, 08:22 AM
Be wary of banks pushing you stuff which you don't need! I only have two credit cards, of which one is active and the other dormant. In fact, I plan to cut it down to just one!
*For the full article, please visit the website.
The Straits Times
www.straitstimes.com
Published on Aug 05, 2012
Take your pick of credit cards
Banks dangling wider array of offerings to woo different customers
By Melissa Tan
Consumers now face a dizzying array of credit cards in the market.
Banks have been refreshing their credit card offerings recently to take advantage of Singaporeans' growing penchant for swiping plastic. The latest cards also appear to be targeting the richer and more technologically inclined end of the market.
Just last month, DBS Bank relaunched a card aimed specifically at affluent women - the Woman's World MasterCard, which dangles extra rewards for online purchases and offers priority cab booking, according to DBS.
Mr Jeremy Soo, managing director and head of consumer banking at DBS, said it is meant for "the women of today who are independent, well-travelled and financially and technologically savvy".
This came a mere three weeks after Standard Chartered released a new Singapore Post co-branded card that aims to tap an increasing appetite for online shopping.
"This year alone, we have noticed a stable month-on-month increase of 7 per cent in the number of online transactions, reflecting the increasing pool of e-commerce consumers," said Stanchart retail banking regional head Subba Vaidyanathan.
In April, OCBC launched a Cashflo card which lets cardholders split big-ticket buys into instalments. And Citibank relaunched its Clear Platinum card in March, branding it Singapore's first card with "social networking as a key feature".
Singapore consumers certainly present an attractive target for banks as they increasingly put their purchases on plastic, whether for online or offline buys.
This is reflected in the steady growth in average monthly credit balances over the past decade, according to data from the Credit Bureau of Singapore (CBS).
The average monthly spending per consumer was $4,930 in the first four months of this year, the CBS found. That represents a 51 per cent increase from $3,275 in the decade since 2002.
Credit card offerings are also being designed for increasingly specific consumer segments as banks seek to differentiate their products.
"We don't believe in a one-card-fits-all concept. That is why we have different cards to cater to different customer segments and needs," said DBS' Mr Soo.
Mr Desmond Tan, head of group lifestyle financing at OCBC, said the bank has strengthened its collaboration with "strong retail partners", given the importance of offering differentiated cards to meet different needs.
He said that OCBC has seen a strong increase in spending, mainly in tra-vel, entertainment and the arts.
But dining out seems to take the top spot when it comes to overall credit card spending for Singaporeans.
According to MasterCard, its Singaporean cardholders forked out $30.6 million at restaurants by the middle of the Great Singapore Sale this year, which ran from late May to late last month.
They spent $24.7 million at supermarkets, $21.6 million at fast- food outlets and $16.4 million at department stores, MasterCard said.
Ms Jacquelyn Tan, head of credit payment products at Citibank, said its cardholders typically spent the most on dining and shopping.
A spokesman for UOB's cards and payment products unit said the bank was seeing double-digit growth in cardholder spending on shopping, entertainment, petrol and groceries.
"In terms of our customers' preferences for rewards, we are seeing a growing preference for cash rebates," the spokesman added.
Consumers prefer cash rebates because the money can be used for anything, said Mr Vinod Nair, who set up credit card comparison website SmartCredit.sg
He told The Sunday Times that his website traffic suggested that rewards such as cashback were actually a more important feature for consumers than restaurant perks.
"Most people don't get credit cards because of the dining privileges. Dining privileges are one of those things that are more a matter of convenience whereas cashback is more of a core feature."
He noted that dining privileges had become "quite standard among the bigger banks, which are constantly updating their list of restaurant deals". But the ubiquity of such programmes also makes dining privileges across different banks "extremely hard to compare", Mr Nair said.
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*For the full article, please visit the website.
The Straits Times
www.straitstimes.com
Published on Aug 05, 2012
Take your pick of credit cards
Banks dangling wider array of offerings to woo different customers
By Melissa Tan
Consumers now face a dizzying array of credit cards in the market.
Banks have been refreshing their credit card offerings recently to take advantage of Singaporeans' growing penchant for swiping plastic. The latest cards also appear to be targeting the richer and more technologically inclined end of the market.
Just last month, DBS Bank relaunched a card aimed specifically at affluent women - the Woman's World MasterCard, which dangles extra rewards for online purchases and offers priority cab booking, according to DBS.
Mr Jeremy Soo, managing director and head of consumer banking at DBS, said it is meant for "the women of today who are independent, well-travelled and financially and technologically savvy".
This came a mere three weeks after Standard Chartered released a new Singapore Post co-branded card that aims to tap an increasing appetite for online shopping.
"This year alone, we have noticed a stable month-on-month increase of 7 per cent in the number of online transactions, reflecting the increasing pool of e-commerce consumers," said Stanchart retail banking regional head Subba Vaidyanathan.
In April, OCBC launched a Cashflo card which lets cardholders split big-ticket buys into instalments. And Citibank relaunched its Clear Platinum card in March, branding it Singapore's first card with "social networking as a key feature".
Singapore consumers certainly present an attractive target for banks as they increasingly put their purchases on plastic, whether for online or offline buys.
This is reflected in the steady growth in average monthly credit balances over the past decade, according to data from the Credit Bureau of Singapore (CBS).
The average monthly spending per consumer was $4,930 in the first four months of this year, the CBS found. That represents a 51 per cent increase from $3,275 in the decade since 2002.
Credit card offerings are also being designed for increasingly specific consumer segments as banks seek to differentiate their products.
"We don't believe in a one-card-fits-all concept. That is why we have different cards to cater to different customer segments and needs," said DBS' Mr Soo.
Mr Desmond Tan, head of group lifestyle financing at OCBC, said the bank has strengthened its collaboration with "strong retail partners", given the importance of offering differentiated cards to meet different needs.
He said that OCBC has seen a strong increase in spending, mainly in tra-vel, entertainment and the arts.
But dining out seems to take the top spot when it comes to overall credit card spending for Singaporeans.
According to MasterCard, its Singaporean cardholders forked out $30.6 million at restaurants by the middle of the Great Singapore Sale this year, which ran from late May to late last month.
They spent $24.7 million at supermarkets, $21.6 million at fast- food outlets and $16.4 million at department stores, MasterCard said.
Ms Jacquelyn Tan, head of credit payment products at Citibank, said its cardholders typically spent the most on dining and shopping.
A spokesman for UOB's cards and payment products unit said the bank was seeing double-digit growth in cardholder spending on shopping, entertainment, petrol and groceries.
"In terms of our customers' preferences for rewards, we are seeing a growing preference for cash rebates," the spokesman added.
Consumers prefer cash rebates because the money can be used for anything, said Mr Vinod Nair, who set up credit card comparison website SmartCredit.sg
He told The Sunday Times that his website traffic suggested that rewards such as cashback were actually a more important feature for consumers than restaurant perks.
"Most people don't get credit cards because of the dining privileges. Dining privileges are one of those things that are more a matter of convenience whereas cashback is more of a core feature."
He noted that dining privileges had become "quite standard among the bigger banks, which are constantly updating their list of restaurant deals". But the ubiquity of such programmes also makes dining privileges across different banks "extremely hard to compare", Mr Nair said.
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