BPI credit cards breach 1-M mark

MANILA, Philippines - Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) is now managing 1.1 million credits cards of the total six million actively transacting business in the Philippine market today.

In fact, plastic money, which includes credit, debit and pre-paid cards, directly issued by BPI reached five million by the end of 2012.

And the prospects for greater reach may be at arms length with the introduction by BPI Family Savings Bank of credit cards with an interest rate of just two percent.

BPI senior vice president and cards issuing business head Maria Cristina L. Go said that the bank has become even more bullish with the new cards.

“This is a different positioning as BPI Family Savings caters to the mass market,” Go said. The thrift bank of the Ayala Group has a depositor base of over 700,000.

The thrift bank-issued credit card is a no-frills, value-for-money card that is fit for people who want to budget from payday-to-payday, and do not want to get “surprised” with emergencies like hospitalization.

“On this one, we try to keep our costs low, and mobile/electronic channels will play a major role. Similar to all BPI cards, you can do payments online, inquire online, inquire via SMS or text messaging, and many more,” the BPI senior vice president said.

Aside from the 1.1 million credit cards, BPI issued 700 prepaid cards and over 3.2 million debit cards.

Go explained that the prepaid card platform is versatile, such as the ECG-Ayala malls pre-paid card, the Petron card, and the BPI gift and cash cards.

“We operated that Pantawid Pasada of the Department of Energy (DOE),” she added.

There are over six million credit cards in circulation issued by banks and non-bank financial institutions.

“Prior to the 2008 crisis, people would own two, three or four cards. Today, it is down to one to two cards,” she said.

The biggest competition is still cash as the banking public’s uptake of credit cards remain conservative, albeit the debit and pre-paid card business has reportedly increased.

Card issuers are not competing among themselves.

“The driver of the Philippine economy remains personal consumption. To be able to spur consumption, issuers should be able to make payments easier and more efficient. And in the process, convert hard cash into plastic and electronic money,” she said.

Mobile money is still on the rise as not all mobile phones have the capability to keep “electronic cash and make electronic cash transactions.”

“That remains a challenge. Yet we are also looking at other ways of using the phones, such as a means of payment,” the BPI senior official added.