EastWest Bank on Thursday projected an acceleration of its credit card business and suite of lending products under its partnership with Singapore Airlines.
Lawrence L. Lee, the bank’s executive vice president and consumer lending cluster head, observed that credit card transactions in the Philippines continue to grow more or less 30 percent, roughly the same number the lender projects of Its own credit cards.
Lee said post-pandemic revenge spending and revenge travels initially proved a strong stimuli for credit expansion with subsequent events seeming to disprove a tapering off in credit card growth.
“But I think people are still spending. Overall, the economy is doing okay. We’re growing as per the expectation of the government. I think the expectation is (for growth) to continue to be robust,” Lee told reporters at the sidelines of the relaunch of the bank’s credit card tie up with Singapore Airlines.
The credit card business is EastWest Bank’s third largest loan portfolio that accounts for 20 percent more or less.
Mia P. Tamayo, senior vice president and credit card business head, said EastWest Bank is “very positive” on continued credit card growth mainly because the lender caters to a very young and productive market.
“And as we get more and more financially educated consumers, we move from a cash-induced transaction society to cashless because there’s a lot of value in it,” Tamayo said of business prospects down the line.
Tamayo claims the bank understands the consuming public more and how the different market segments work, which is why the conversion of EastWest Bank’s credit card reward points into airline miles is the most generous program there is.
“And with 150,000 Filipinos working in Singapore, traveling back and forth to the Philippines from Singapore, on top of Filipino tourists going to Singapore, I’m sure you probably imagine they’re big because you don’t need a visa to go to Singapore. It’s only three hours away. So, we made sure we have the best travel card,” he said.
Tamayo said the bank has already reached its target of having 1.4 million cardholders in September and expects to end the year with a much higher number of EastWest credit card holders.
“If you spend that with your cash, what reward do you get? But if you spend it with a credit card, you can imagine the rewards that you will get. And so, we want card holders to move from there. It’s really a pure experiential experience,” she said.
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