Diners Club launches card for ‘high-ticket’ spenders

Security International Card Corp. (SICC), the issuer of Diners Club cards in the Philippines, launched yesterday a new product designed for "today’s discriminating high-ticket spenders."

Called Diners Club Premiere Card, the new product will be marketed to those with a monthly income of no less than P80,000. It will be the second product that will be marketed by SICC which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Security Bank.

Prior to the launch of its high-end product, SICC has been marketing the regular Diners Club card which caters to individuals with monthly incomes of P20,000 and above. SICC president Jose A. Nuñez said they issued 93,000 of these cards in the first semester, just 17,000 shy of its 110,000-target for the whole year.

Nuñez said they hope to complete their product mix with the introduction sometime near the end of the year of a Mastercard product designed for those with monthly incomes of at least P10,000.

This means that SICC will be catering to the low, medium and high-income groups, Nuñez said.

SICC assistant vice president Patrick A. Carlos said the Diners Club Premiere Card was designed for the creme de la creme or those with annual incomes of no less than P1 million, a market that is expected to grow by three to five percent yearly.

"It was designed to pamper the cardholder wherever he is. It has perks designed for the traveling chief executive officer like free use of three-band cellular phone for three weeks in the US market," Carlos said.

It also offers free access to exclusive airport and business lounges all over the world including the Club Manila at the NAIA.

With its new product, Diners Club hopes to improve on its current four-percent share of the local market for credit cards.

Nuñez, a former president of the Credit Card Association of the Philippines, said the local credit card industry is expected to grow by 20 to 30 percent annualy in the next three years in terms of gross billings.

End-December estimates show that the industry generated over P100 billion in gross billings, close 30 percent higher than the previous year’s level.