HSBC issues record 98,000 credit cards in H1

The number of new credit cards issued by Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. (HSBC) in the Philippines reached a company record of 98,000 during the first six months of 2005, bank official said yesterday.

If the current trend is sustained in the second semester, HSBC officials said they are optimistic that the Philippine card operations could achieve record levels.

"We have already recorded the highest growth rate in the industry reaching 25.2 percent in the first half of the year," said Martin Cook, HSBC deputy chief executive officer, in a press briefing.

The local credit card industry has been growing by an annual average of 7.8 percent, with higher volume of issuances in the second semester particularly due to Christmas buying.

Cook also announced that HSBC had broken the 500,000-mark in terms of cards issued after making its first card issuance in 1997. While the bank does not have the largest card base, he said what matters is "the ability to service all the cardholders."

At the end of 2004, HSBC’s card business ranked fourth overall in the country’s credit card industry, or 11 percent of the entire market.

Reflective of the industry sentiments, the foreign bank said the increase in issuance and "spend" (or use of cards) reflects good business and consumer environment in the country.

In fact, HSBC presently considers its credit card business as a "dynamic engine for growth and opportunity." Sixty percent of its personnel in the consumer market business is concentrated in the card business.

Cook added that the bank had invested heavily in the past three years in building the proper infrastructure for the card business, as well as expanding and sealing deals with merchants.

Claire Yap, HSBC’s head of the cards business, said that the top merchant or spending area are supermarkets, department stores, restaurants, gasoline stations, airlines and other entertainment establishments.