EastWest Travel Money honored at Asia Trailblazer Awards

MANILA, Philippines - EastWest Bank garnered the “Highly-Commended-Best Prepaid Card Award for Asia Pacific” for its Travel Money card at the 2014 Card and Electronic Payments International Asia Trailblazer Awards held at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel in Singapore.

The Asia Trailblazer Awards, now in its fifth year and organized by Timetric, recognises the emerging innovations in the cards and payments industry within the Asia Pacific region. Awardees embody success, inspirational effort and regional superiority.

The entries were judged based on demonstrated commercial success and how responsive the product was to the needs of its targeted customers. Judges assessed the level of card utilization, how well the program was delivered to customers, distribution networks in place, customer service excellence and ease of reloading.

“We have seen a marked rise in the number of smaller domestic banks that have come up with really innovative ideas, which is encouraging. This year, we saw the emergence of interesting initiatives across the channels, process, and service areas. This is a strong indicator of Asia’s retail banking market maturing and banks responding to changing customer needs by launching industry firsts to get ahead of the curve,” said Ruben Kempeneer, APAC regional director for Timetric.

EastWest Travel Money is the first multi-currency prepaid card in Southeast Asia which can carry up to six currencies simultaneously, namely dollar, Australian dollar, Hong Kong dollar, Euro, British pound, and Japanese yen.

It was launched to address travelers’ main concerns such as the need to carry different currencies in cash, the best time to purchase foreign currencies prior to their travel and the fluctuating foreign exchange rate when using plastics to pay for their purchases.

“We are pleased to be recognized as among the best financial institutions in the Asia Pacific region. Our commitment is to provide products that are beneficial and responsive to the needs of our customers. Ultimately, we want to be recognized by our customers and the rest of the banking public for our service excellence,” said SEVP and head of retail banking and operations cluster Gerry Susmerano.

The 2014 Asia Trailblazer Awards were also accompanied by a day summit that saw three key panel discussions initiating dialogue over current industry trends that are top-of-the-mind issues for bankers and other industry players. The panels saw participation from leading experts from across the region and institutions.