Abn Amro Launches 2 Global Credit Cards

ABN Amro today launched two global credit cards, an entry-level silver card and a gold card, in association with MasterCard.

Jan Peter Schmittmann, ABN Amro Bank's senior executive vice-president, new growth markets and private clients, said, "The bank is concentrating on the retail market as the fortunes in the corporate market are dwindling. In Asia, the focus of the bank is clearly on India and China, and more on India as it will take time for the Chinese market to open. Plastic is going to play an important role in this strategy."

ABN Amro Bank's executive vice president & country representative Romesh Sobti, said: "Credit cards have the highest margin among the retail products range. And the delinquency rates in the country are more controlled than in other markets."

The gold card, which is a smart-chip-enabled credit card, will enable the customer to redeem the reward points in 200 outlets across the country.

In both the cards, the customer will earn one reward point for every Rs 50 spend. The interest rate on balance transfer for the gold card is at 0.99 per cent every month, while for the silver card it is 1.49 per month while the interest rate on outstanding credit is 2.49 per cent per month. The card also offers alerts through e-mail and SMS messages on all vital card transactions.

"The bank is also setting up a new sales force to market the credit cards. This sale force will among others consist of direct sales agents and tele-marketing agents," Nitin Chopra, ABN Amro's consumer bank head, said.