CIMB Bank: 10 percent of card spent from debit cards

The introduction of the RM50 government service tax in 2010 has made the number of credit cards in circulation went down by 21 percent in 2010, dropped 4 percent in 2011 and 2 percent decrease this year, according to Renzo Christopher Viegas, CIMB Group’s deputy CEO and head of consumer banking.

However, purchases using credit card were increased by 7 percent this year but is lower if compared with last year which increased by 11 percent, Viegas added. In terms of credit card receivables, he said 2009 to 2010 saw an increase of 15%, while in 2010 to 2011 receivables went up by 9%. This year, however, saw a 2% decrease.

Viegas told the media that CIMB Bank now is targeting to increase the number of credit card holders by 10 to 15 percent by 2013 from the current base which is 750,000 card members and also expects to add additional 0.4 million debit card holders to 1.4 million members by end of this year.

“A few year ago, debit cards comprise only about 2 per cent of the total payment card spend. But, due to easy ownership of debit card, the debit cards now comprise about 10 per cent. It is not surprising if people use more debit card than credit card in future,” Viegas said.

by Alice Lee